One boy's journey
by Popnkilo
Summary: Chapter 16 up. things get tense as the gang tries to escape the mobile fortress and her captain
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own zoids  
  
This is kinda of an interactive fic but not, but heres the prologue first.  
  
A hundred years have passed after the war between the republic and the empire, the situation has grown uneasy; a cold war has been going on for the past 15 years.  
  
Meanwhile on the other continent on Zi where colonization has only just begun, a large spaceship slowly makes its decent through the atmosphere. A young boy leaning against the rail looks down at the planet, only smiles.  
  
"This is it, this is where my journey really begins."  
  
*Flashback-  
  
"Cone on this is a once and a lifetime opportunity, who knows when the next ship leaves for Zi."  
  
"Its dangerous, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you."  
  
"Listen to your Aunt and me, this isn't some camping trip and this is a very different place, not like Earth."  
  
"I don't care. All my life I felt that I don't belong here, that I need to be some place else. And with this trip offered. . .Look I saved enough money to live on my own." Slam!  
  
"What are we going to do, you know he's going no matter what we say. He's just like his mother."  
  
"Yeah I know, she would have been proud."  
  
*End flashback  
  
*A/N  
  
*Email all entries; FF.net already removed this story once I don't want to have to re upload again.  
  
Okay the stage is set. This will be an interactive fic if you don't already know this by now. I going to try and use all characters and here is the interesting part, this isn't going to be your average interactive fic, this will be an ongoing one. What does that mean? It means that I'm not going to choose only four characters at the beginning, you can enter a character at any point of the story, at chapter 1 or 7 it doesn't matter. Only downside is that not everyone is going to get a big part, they might only be in one chapter of the story or the entire story it all depends on where the story is going.  
  
Ok heres what you need.  
  
Name:  
  
Sex:  
  
Age:  
  
Description:  
  
Personality:  
  
History:  
  
Occupation (if soldier tell me which side):  
  
Zoid:  
  
Other (Anything else I missed): 


	2. Day 1

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. . .  
  
The ship spanning about a quarter of a mile in width set down on the planet. The landing thrusters were turning on and off repeatedly for a couple of minutes before finally shutting down. A large bay door opened and hit the dirt. On the other side passengers were filing out and heading for the cargo bay to get their stuff. Construction people were moving about helping with the unloading of materials needed for the newly established colony.  
  
A heavy man stepped of the ship and walked through the mess of people rushing in and out of the ship. Followed by two aids he walked toward four men standing off in the distance by a whale king. He stood proud with his white beard and extended his hand to the man in the middle of the group of four. The man in response shook his hand.  
  
"Welcome to planet Zi, Captain."  
  
"Thank you, on the behalf of Earth we thank both the Republic and Empire for assisting us with this colony."  
  
As the higher ups were going through the motions, a boy took on look at the ground and dashed for the exit of the ship. After spending two months onboard the Churchill he was excited. He grabbed his pack and his duffle bag on the way out. After three steps outside he just stared in amazement.  
  
"I can't believe I'm on another planet." He did a 360. "This is awesome."  
  
When he finally came out of the daze he looked up and saw a gigantic hand coming at him. He got out of the way just in time. When he looked up he saw a giant gorilla type machine. It stopped a few feet ahead and turned around. The cockpit opened up and the pilot stuck his head out.  
  
"Hey kid watch where you're going." With that the pilot got back in and walked on the ramp and into the cargo hold.  
  
The kid could on stare in amazement. "Tha.Tha.That was a.a.zoid." He had heard stories but never actually seen one seeing how he grew up on another planet two months away.  
  
"Yes that is kid." Said a female voice behind him. "On this planet there are all kinds of zoids."  
  
The boy turned around to face a woman, kind of tall, green eyes, tan, with long wavy black hair. She was wearing a tight white spaghetti strap mid- drift top and jeans. She looked him in the eyes.  
  
"So what's your name kid."  
  
"I'm not a kid, I'm 17." He stared back and then relaxed. "The name's John Auden."  
  
"Well nice to meet you, John Auden." She patted him on the shoulder. He could feel the rings on her hand. "I'm Jayde Adare, I'm a mechanic in the nearby town who got hired to help you guys move in." She smiled and looked around. "So where's your family?"  
  
"Back on Earth."  
  
"What!" She looked at him shocked. "You're kidding right."  
  
"Nope."  
  
"How.what.do they know where you ARE!"  
  
"Yupe"  
  
"WHAT!" John was enjoying watching her squirm but had to stop it before she exploded. So he explained to her what she needed to know and left it at that. "But where are you going to stay if you don't know anyone."  
  
"I'll manage, it was nice meeting you but I got to go, the sun looks like it's going to set soon so I got to find a place to stay." He reached down and grabbed both his pack and bag and started walking away. Jayde just stood there thinking about the kid.  
  
"Hey wait a minute, I got an idea. How about you stay with me and my dad!" John stopped and turned around. Jayde walked up to him. "You know at least until you can get a place of your own." John though about it for a while and then shrugged. "Alright then it's settled as soon as I'm finished we'll get out of here and head back."  
  
After Jayde finished her job she signaled John and they both headed for her zoid.  
  
"Dudet that's your zoid?"  
  
"Yeah but before we go, listen I'm sorry but Stormy is a one seater so I hope you don't mine being close for say 20 minutes at top speed." She let out a 'be a sport kind' of laugh. John just let out a sigh. 'Oh boy'.  
  
About 10 minutes into the trip, John and Jayde are crammed in the cockpit as you can imagine.  
  
"How much longer?"  
  
"Quiet whining we are almost there."  
  
"Buts its dark already and your elbow is pinning my arm."  
  
"This is the only way for me to pilot Stormy so." Suddenly an explosion appeared right in front of them. The Zaber Fang made a complete stop.  
  
"What was that?" John turned to ask Jayde. Then three Atak Kats appeared.  
  
"Frell, I thought Jack to care of you guys already." Jayde said to herself. "Listen John this is about to get uncomfortable so just bear with me ok."  
  
Then they got a massage over the radio. Attention pilot, surrender your zoid and all your money now and we won't hurt you  
  
"Give me a break." Jayde reached over and pressed a button and yelled over the comlink. "Ah how about no." And then the Zaber Fang took off running to the left. The three Atak Kats close behind firing there 20mm Cannons at the Jayde and John. The Zaber Fang then did a 180 and fired its AEZ 20mm Beam Gun and hit the Kat on the right triggering a command freeze along with taking a chunk out of its leg. After that she charged the remaining two head on and fired her Small-Bore Anti-Zoid Laser Machinegun. She nailed the center one disabling it but not before taking a hit in the front right leg by the remaining Atak Kat. The Zaber took a big spill crashing into and past one of the damaged Atak Kats.  
  
John shook his head no horizontal in the cockpit looked in front to see Jayde sprawled out on top of him.  
  
"Jayde. Jayde you ok?" He shook her.  
  
"Yeah, uh, what happened?" She looked up to find her face inches away from the consol and her hand on John's head holding on to his hair. "Oh yeah." She groaned. Then they both looked up at the Atak Kat above them with its cannons pointed at the fallen Zaber. Both were too dazed to do anything but stare at it.  
  
Then out of nowhere a black liger came running. Its front opened up and an energy shield appeared and rammed the Atak Kat.  
  
Over the Comlink John and Jayde could hear an excited voice. Take that, you frelling bandits. Hey Jayde you okay down there Then an image appeared on the Zaber's screen of a blue haired girl with a white tank top with the words "cruel" written in blue on it. Oh my. Ah. I didn't know you had company I'll you two along ok Then the image disappeared.  
  
Jayde still in her current position reached over to open the comlink once again. "Get down here now Paige"  
  
All the while John laid there thinking about what just happened.  
  
'This is going to be more interesting than I thought. Most definitely.'  
  
Chapter 1 done  
  
A/n: OrangeGirlExplosion and Lady Jayde Une your characters are up and running, we'll here's the first chap. What do you think I like to know and this doesn't mean I stop accepting characters so keep them coming. Oh yeah, bad language I've decided to take the Farscape approach to this issue. Use other words like "Frell" for example instead of you know the other word. 


	3. A long night

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
Both the Liger and the Zaber walked slowly into a tall garage. The place was covered with machinery and zoid parts. As the zoids were settling in, a man in his late forties or early fifties came out of the office. Locking the door behind him he walked over to greet the girls. As he approached however he noticed a third party between them.  
  
"I see we picked up another stray." The man eyed the dark haired girl.  
  
"Come on dad, he has no where else to go." Jayde pleaded.  
  
"Fine he can stay, but you have to stop this. This is starting to become a bad habit." He looked over to her female companion. "Just look at the last one that followed you home.  
  
"Ha, Ha. Very funny Mr. A. If I didn't know better I'd say you were being sarcastic."  
  
Mr. Adare then turned around and headed for the exit. "Come on girls I'm closing lets go home. And help your friend he looks dead tired. What were you guys up to anyways?"  
  
"Long story dad, Paige could you get John's stuff out of stormy while I get sleeping beauty into the car."  
  
"Sure."  
  
*Flashback*  
  
Over the Comlink John and Jayde could hear an excited voice. Take that, you frelling bandits. Hey Jayde you okay down there Then an image appeared on the Zaber's screen of a blue haired girl with a white tank top with the words "cruel" written in blue on it. Oh my. Ah. I didn't know you had company I'll leave you two along ok Then the image disappeared.  
  
Jayde still in her current position reached over to open the comlink once again. "Get down here now Paige"  
  
The black liger then opened up its cockpit and Paige jumped down and walked toward the fallen Zaber. Then Jayde and John fell out of her Zaber and reversed positions on the ground with Jayde on top of John.  
  
"Would you mind getting off me?" John suggested.  
  
"Sure." Eventually both of them finally stood up.  
  
"Well, well, well what do we have here, or rather who?" Paige took a closer look at Auden.  
  
Jayde who was dusting herself off, explained the situation and thanked her for helping them out.  
  
"No problem Jayde, I was actually out here testing out the new parts your dad gave me when I heard the explosions. So who's the guy and isn't he a little young for you?" Paige smirked.  
  
"Oh, this is John Auden. He's new here in fact this is his first day on the planet. He's from Earth."  
  
"Yeah, Paige is it. So what kind of zoid is yours?" John said while admiring the view of her liger.  
  
"That my friend is my Shield Liger. Isn't it beautiful?" She raised her hands to further her admiration of her zoid.  
  
"I don't know?" He leaned forward a bit to get a better view. "The head seems a little bulky if you know what I." John never got to finish his statement because Paige more or less grabbed him and had him in a headlock.  
  
"What did you say?! My liger is the best, there is nothing wrong with it."  
  
"Ok, ok, geez lighten up a bit. I was only sugg.Ahh stop it." Paige tightened her grip. John reached around and squeezed her sides; Paige immediately let go. "Thank you."  
  
"Speaking of your liger, it has two seats right? John, how about you ride with her the rest of the way. It'll be more comfortable."  
  
"What? The crazy blue chick? Can't she pilot your zoid and you and me in hers?"  
  
Paige stepped in. "First of all, nobody is piloting my zoid, and I'm sorry what did you say? 'Crazy blue chick'?"  
  
Suddenly they heard loud noises coming from all directions.  
  
"What was that?" John looked around, it was dark by now and they could barely see anything within a quarter of a mile.  
  
"My guess, the bandits called a few friends. Look we can argue about this later. John go with Paige. I can barely fight with a damaged leg let alone a damaged leg and a cramped cockpit."  
  
John sighed. "Alright."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Good, lets make a brake for the town it'll take us about an hour with my zoid like this."  
  
"And whose fault is that?" Paige looked over at John. John only stared back.  
  
"Stop it you two. Lets go." Jayde got back into her Zaber Fang and John and Paige got into her Shield Liger. They both started running with the Zaber out in front and the liger following behind.  
  
As the two zoids were running at moderate speed, John could only stare at the controls in amazement. "Dude, this is so much cooler than anything back home. Mad Cats my Mivonks."  
  
Paige looked back curiously. "What's a Mad Cat?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, it's a mech, from a game." Paige's face still didn't change. "A.Robot, never mind."  
  
"Whatever, so what's earth like? Anything it got that we don't."  
  
"Well there's way more people there of course, I mean open land like this doesn't exist anymore except for the protected national parks. Oh and there hasn't really been war since the great unification of 2237 after WW III."  
  
"Really, here its just the opposite. Both the republic and the empire say they want peace but war is coming, I mean battles have broken out here on the frontier but that's about it. Both govs have declared them small incidents but that's a lie if I ever heard one. You know once you stop being a jerk you're not that bad."  
  
"Thanks, I think"  
  
An image appeared on the liger's monitor. We're almost home Jayde looked at them both. Wow, you're both still there, I was expecting you guys to be at each other's throats by now  
  
"Shut up" replied both John and Paige at the same time.  
  
Suddenly Paige's scanners picked up four objects surrounding them. Then a message came across both zoids. Attention pilots we were going to only rob you but after what you did to our buddies back there, we're going to rob you then beat you  
  
John looked a little worried but Paige just smirked and opened the comlink.  
  
"Attention buckets of dren, kiss my mivonks you frelling chickens."  
  
"Uh Paige I don't think that was the best idea, you know to tick them off since they outnumber us 4 to 1 and half."  
  
"John, you've never been in a battle have you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Well now you have." Then five black Command Wolves become visible in the moonlight. Both the Zaber and the Liger took off in separate directions. Two wolves followed the Zaber while the remaining ones chased the Liger. "Hang on John and watch the pro. Paige swung the liger around and back to the Zaber.  
  
Meanwhile Jayde was doing her best to fend off the two Command Wolves with her damaged zoid. "Dam it Stormy, we just can't compete." She took another hit to the back.  
  
Hey Jayde, I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine  
  
Alright  
  
Jayde started running toward the Shield Liger and aimed all her firepower at the wolves chasing her. Paige did the same with Jadye's wolves. They both fired at the same time. Both groups were so focused on their targets that only one of them saw it coming and dodged the assault. He returned fire and scored a hit on the Zaber Fang. The Zoid was fine but the hit knocked Jayde out. The liger ran to her.  
  
Jayde respond, hey you ok "Shit, something is wrong. John get out and head for the Zaber ok."  
  
"What? You want me to what." John was shocked. Here he was in his first battle barely keeping it together, now being asked to jump out and do something. "You have got to be kidding me."  
  
"Look Jayde is in trouble, I'll keep the Command wolf busy while you see if she's ok. Its easy I know you can do it." She checked her scanners and saw it was clear. "Ok here's our chance." She opened up the cockpit and threw him out. "Go I know you can do it." Now focused, she closed the cockpit and ran off looking for the Wolf.  
  
'You can do this, come on. Jayde needs your help.' John kept telling himself as he slowly made his way toward the sitting Zaber. Ever step was terrifying knowing that at any moment the Command Wolf could come and kill him. When he finally reached the cockpit of the Zaber, he felt a sense of relief.  
  
"Hey Jayde you ok?" After a few minutes, he managed to open the cockpit. There he found Jayde leaning forward knock out. He reached over to the comlink.  
  
At that moment the liger was in an intense battle with the Wolf. "He's good."  
  
Paige she's out cold  
  
What! And I need help here. Wait I got an idea, you have to pilot the Zaber  
  
What! Are you crazy, it just took me 5 minutes to figure out how to open this channel  
  
Its simple just follow my instructions, you don't even have to walk just fire the frelling cannon  
  
After about 10 minutes Paige convinced John and taught him how to aim and fire the weapons.  
  
Paige took off running toward the Zaber.  
  
Ready John here he comes  
  
No but what the hell  
  
He could see the liger running strait at him, then at the last minute move to the left. Next was the Command Wolf right in the center of the Zaber's sights. John reached for the firing controls and grasped them. For about 20 seconds he just stared at the Wolf running at him.  
  
What are DOING, FIRE!  
  
John shook out of his daze and pressed the button. The Zaber fired its forward weapons and disable the command wolf. Around the same time Jayde started to wake up.  
  
*A/N Well chapter 2 done. How's that for a beginning. I'm not very good with describing battles so bare with me I'm working on it 


	4. A day in the city

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
"I don't care. All my life I felt that I don't belong here, that I need to be some place else. And with this trip offered . . .Look I saved enough money to live on my own." Slam! John ran out of the house and headed for the park across the street.  
  
A few minutes later his uncle found him and sat next to him.  
  
"Listen I know we can't stop you so here." He threw an envelope into John's Lap.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"Money. There's enough for the ticket and a little extra for a meal." Without a word John just hugged his uncle. "Don't thank me yet. You only got a few days left so go on home and pack."  
  
"Thank you Uncle Peter. Thank you."  
  
Suddenly John felt something hit his face. 'What was that?' He body became heavy.  
  
"Hey sleepy head wake up." Paige hit him in the head with his pillow again.  
  
"I'm up, I'm up." John grabbed the pillow back from her.  
  
"Mr. A told me to wake you, breakfast is on the table." She started to walk out of the room.  
  
"Who's Mr. A?" John was rubbing his eyes and yawning.  
  
"Jayde's dad, stupid." And she left.  
  
John sat up and stretched, before he got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. As he was approaching the kitchen he could here them talking.  
  
"No he's not, I had to scream into the comlink to get him to fire at the dam zoid."  
  
"Give him a break, up until now he had never seen a zoid let alone try and pilot one. Yeah dad you should of seen him at the ship. He was literally stunned at the sight of an Iron Kong."  
  
"Hehe I bet, now what I'm more concerned about are the bandits from what you said they seem to be getting more aggressive. I think you guys shouldn't stay out that late any more."  
  
"Come on Mr. A, we took care of them easy as pie. Besides this would of never happened if Jack took care of them like he was supposed to."  
  
"Speaking of which where is he, he's been gone for a week now? Dad?"  
  
At that moment John walked in.  
  
"Ah, John Auden isn't it?" A large man was sitting at the table across from Jayde and Paige. "I've heard a lot about, and I have to admit you sure are brave coming all the way out here by yourself." He pulled out the seat next to him and John slowly took it. They all sat there all morning enjoying the food and chatting. John did most of the talking because they all wanted to here about Earth but John kept trying to change the subject to Zoids. Then Paige would go off on how great she was at piloting her liger. John would say something about it and Paige would hit him. All the while Jayde and her dad would smile and watch the two strays go at it.  
  
Later that day John was walking around the garage while Mr. Adare was working on a gun sniper.  
  
"So what's this one called?"  
  
"This is a gun sniper, if you look at its tail it straitens out and the whole zoid becomes a gun. Its mainly used for long rang combat, with one shot it can rip through the thickest armor."  
  
"Cool. Hey if its not too much to ask in all, would it be ok if you know."  
  
"Teach you to pilot one, sorry it's been years since I even touched the controls you'll have to ask one of the girls." The machine arm then lowered the right arm of the gun sniper so Mr. Adare could re-attach it.  
  
"Dam, Jayde's working on the, the, now what did she call it again." John had his hand on his temple trying to remember the name. "It had a large barrel and looked like a, it was the ones that attacked us last night."  
  
"The command wolf, yeah that needs a complete overhaul it'll take her all day and tomorrow." He thought about it some more and smirked. "I guess that means your only choice is Paige unless you want to wait a couple of days if you know what I mean."  
  
John crossed his arms and thought about it for a few minutes then relaxed.  
  
"Oh well, I guess I can wait a few more days. I can take this time to explore the city." And with that he left to get his boots from the door.  
  
Mr. Adare laughed at John's solution, smacked his own leg and got back to work.  
  
-In the city-  
  
A man was sitting at a table outside a coffee shop, just enjoying his cup and the view. Just a little shy of six feet with short and spikey light brown hair and dark violet eyes. He wore matching black boots and pants and had a light green sleeve-less shirt with a black ? on the front and the word "What?" on the back. He put his coffee down and rubbed his scar on his left cheek. He looked over at a lady passing by intrigued by the word cruel written on her chest although I don't think that was all he was looking at, decided to meet this girl. He ran up and stopped in front of her.  
  
"Hello there. I just ran up to say hello."  
  
Paige somewhat startled looked into his eyes. "Hello." The two just stood there awkwardly for a few minutes not knowing what to say. "Well it was nice meeting you, I think I'll go now." And she continued on her way.  
  
"Wait." She did. " Can I get you a cup of coffee you know to drink?" She turned around.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"I'm Nero."  
  
"Paige."  
  
As the two sat down and got coffee, John was on the other side of the street looking at all the buildings and staring at the food. 'Dude, this is going to take some getting used to. Note to self ask Jayde why some people have markings on their faces.' Suddenly three men bumped into him. "Hey watch where you're going dude." John gave the three men a weird look.  
  
The girl on the left turned around. She had a black bandanna around her forehead, black hair and dark blue eyes.  
  
"What did you say kid."  
  
Now John looking at her and noticing that she's around the same age as her just started to laugh. She didn't take it to kindly.  
  
"I'm sorry, 'Mam'." He said sarcastically. Her two comrades both laughed inwardly to themselves at his words.  
  
"I am a soldier for the imperial army and if I were you I would stop laughing now."  
  
"Yes 'sir'." And with that she grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground. He was still laughing by the way.  
  
People around them started to pause and watch. This caught the attention of a certain blue haired girl across the street.  
  
"What has that idiot done now?"  
  
"What are you talking about? What idiot?"  
  
"Come on I'll explain later." She threw down a couple of coins and they ran over to where John was.  
  
The girl threw a punch at John but he caught it. "Geez if you're that upset about it I'm sorry." He blocked another kick. One of her comrades held her back.  
  
"That's enough Neko." She shrugged him off and glared at John before walking off.  
  
"You know for a new guy you sure do get in trouble a lot." Paige comes up behind him followed by Nero. "Oh this is Nero. Nero this is John." They both nodded at each other.  
  
John looked at her shirt and then at Nero's. 'Go figure.'  
  
"I might not be able to pilot a zoid but I can take care of myself 'Blue'."  
  
Paige slightly annoyed just looked at Nero. "Ok then, I see you don't need me idiot. Come on let's go back to our table."  
  
"Sure, later Auden." They then split up.  
  
Two days later by the airport. Nero was running checks on his Whale King when a woman in black leather boots walked up to him.  
  
"Excuse me but are you Mr. Keros?" Nero turned around to face the auburn haired girl. He could feel the coldness from her silver eyes, especially her left with that X shaped scar over it. (A/n: Whats with you guys and scars? Just wondering.)  
  
"Yes I am Ms."  
  
"Not important. I need deliver a number of items to Lopen in three days. Are you interested?" She shifted her weight to her left foot and handed him a chart of the manifest. Nero looked over running his left hand over his scar. "I also mention that we are willing to double the normal fee for this job."  
  
'Must be important for a person like this to come to me. Hmmm.' "Sure."  
  
"Pleasure doing business. All the info you need to know is on that chart. I look forward to doing business with you in the future." She walked away at that.  
  
After she got into her car she picked up her phone and dialed a number.  
  
"This is Shadowind, first step is complete."  
  
A/n: Sorry if this chapter is a little boring but I needed to set up a few things for latter chapters. 


	5. The stars

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
The sun was high in the sky covering the desert below. The valley expanded for miles stopping at the river on the south end and the mountains on the east. In the middle of the desert a black liger could be seen running and turning.  
  
"That's it. Now try pulling back and do what I showed you this morning." She leaned back and with her right hand checked her seat belt.  
  
"Ok here goes nothing."  
  
The Liger slowed down and crouched with its butt in the air. Then it leaped up as high as John could and came back down with a perfect landing.  
  
"Yes I think I'm getting the hang of this finally." John sat back and breathed out a sigh. "I still can't believe Blue let us use her zoid."  
  
"I know what you mean." Jayde combed through her black hair with her left hand. "And stop calling her that you know she doesn't like it." Smiling she reached to the front seat and lightly hit him in the head. "Come on, its almost dinner. Let's get out of here."  
  
"Don't you want to switch places?"  
  
"No, you've practiced long enough. I trust you to get us home in one piece." The Shield Liger then headed for the shop on the other side of the river.  
  
At the garage Paige and Mr. Adare were in his office getting ready to go home.  
  
"They should be heading back by now." He sat at his desk looking over an order form. Paige was leaning against the wall.  
  
"I hope so, I'm getting hungry." She put her hand over her stomach.  
  
"Hey I've been wondering about something." He never took his eyes off the form. "How come you let them use your shield liger?" He reached over to his cup of pens and grabbed one. Paige looked up through the window into the hanger.  
  
"Well John wanted to learn how to pilot a zoid and well my liger is the best choice since it has two seats Jayde doesn't need to talk him through it by radio. Besides I owed her a favor." She looked back at Adare. "Just out of curiosity why you ask?"  
  
"Its just that you and John don't get along nicely and here you are lending him your zoid to help him." He put down the pen and filed the form away for tomorrow. "And done. How come? You're so relaxed and laid back all the time but whenever John shows up you change."  
  
"I don't know, he just gets to me." Paige just shrugged.  
  
"By the way who's this Nero I keep hearing about?" Adare stood up. "Come on you can tell me on the way home." He grabbed his coat.  
  
"Oh he's just a friend I met about a month ago. He runs a small business by the airport. Owns that whale king you see all the time." Mr. Adare turned off the lights and they both left the shop and headed home.  
  
Somewhere beyond the mountain range at a military base-  
  
The walls around the base were coming out of the ground along with multiple gun turrets. Inside the base dozens of soldiers were scrambling about rushing to their stations and zoids.  
  
"Hurry up!"  
  
"GO! GO! GO!"  
  
This is not a drill. The base is under attack  
  
A dozen gordos and command wolves emerged from the base ready to fight. Up ahead of them they could see 10 figures move toward them. 5 Elephanders, 3 Rev Raptors, a Pierce Sniper and a Heldigunner. All the zoids were dark blue except the heldigunner. The Pierce sniper stepped forward.  
  
Our mission is to take the base intact, all other obstacles are to be eliminated All the elephanders let out a noise. (A/n: I don't know how to describe it, it's the same as when a liger growls. I don't know.). The pilot of the pierce sniper looked over to the heldigunner. The pilot shifted his hat.  
  
Hey merc you understand  
  
Just get out of my way  
  
The heldigunner dove into the sand and into the battle.  
  
Lt. Hatsuharu there are more units, then we expected. We are out numbered the elepahnder next to him fired its rail gun on its back.  
  
Come down and stick to the plan 'I can't believe we're working with this guy' Lt. Hatsuharu eyed the heldigunner as it took out three gordos in one attack run. Within an hour the defenses were all but destroyed.  
  
An injured pilot crawled out of his wrecked command wolf. *Cough "Who are these guys." He looked up and saw the heldigunner above him. The zoid stepped on the soldier killing him instantly.  
  
Lt. Hatsuharu could only watch the destruction. "So this is The Black Dragon." He glared at the heldigunner out of hate and fear."  
  
Inside the base -  
  
A young man in his twenties was helping and old man underneath rubble that had just fallen from the last attack.  
  
"Come on I have to get you out of here!" He pulled the old man out of the pile and laid him on his back. The old man with all his strength grabbed his friend on the arm.  
  
"Leave me. Take the Zero and get out of here. We must continue with the plan. This assault only hastens our objective. The system must not fall into the hands of the Empire or Republic." He then took one last breath. "Now go. Run my boy. Run." He released his hold and closed his eyes. The man kneeled in silence for a minute then took off toward the hanger. Inside the hanger laid a half finished Liger, the liger itself was finished but it had no armor except a black headpiece. The man quickly got into the zoid and activated it. He paused for a few seconds to look at a disk in his hands.  
  
"I'll never forget you Doc." And he took off.  
  
Lt. Hatsuharu spotted the run away as he approached the base.  
  
Red 1, 2 and 3 pursue  
  
Yes sir  
  
At the top of the cliff a woman in black stood with a head set.  
  
Excellent Jared you've done well  
  
The heldigunner stopped.  
  
Now about my payment  
  
All taken care of He closed the channel.  
  
The pilot smiled. "Good, everything is almost ready. Then they will all feel the fury of the Black Dragon." He let out a insane laugh.  
  
Back at the house -  
  
All four sat around the table eating dinner.  
  
"No, seriously she fired the cannon instead of braking." Mr. Adare said while laughing. The others joined.  
  
"Give me a brake it was my first time." Jayde replied. Paige and John just continued to laugh.  
  
"Even I wouldn't do such a thing and I'm only beginning to learn this stuff." John grabbed his stomach.  
  
"He's got a point." Paige added.  
  
"Ok dad enough stories. What's next, your going to show them my bare ass baby pictures?"  
  
"That's not a bad idea. Let's take a vote."  
  
"Aye!" Both John and Paige yelled at the same time.  
  
Later that evening they all went there separate ways. Jayde got tired and went to bed early. Mr. Adare sat down in front of the T.V. Paige pulled out her book and John sat outside looking up at the stars.  
  
He was lost in the sea of stars. Feeling the wind on his back he got lost in his thoughts. He didn't even notice Paige come out and join him.  
  
"Watcha' thinkin' about?" She sat down next to him.  
  
"Huh? Oh, nothing in particular." He looked up again. "They sure are beautiful aren't they?"  
  
"Yeah." She looked up as well. "They are. Kind of makes you think how small and insignificant we all are doesn't it?"  
  
The two sat there for most of the night in silence occasionally commenting on the landscape or the stars. Then Paige feeling tired stood up and went back inside. John stayed up the entire night and watched the sun rise before going back in.  
  
A/n: And so the plot thickens. More characters are up and I don't really know if your characters are up seeing how I lost the reviews I don't really know who did what. But I do have all the characters from the first time. I thought it best to save them on word. I guess I guessed right. 


	6. The end of the beginning

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
Paige, Nero and John were sitting in a club enjoying dinner. It was Nero's treat. His recent client had been paying huge amounts of money for very little runs back and fourth to Lopen city. In light of his new fortune he offered everyone dinner at his favorite club, Moontop. Paige and John agreed but Jayde and her Dad were swamped with work and had to stay behind.  
  
"Hey, check it out John." Nero nodded to the left. "I'll be right back." John turned around as Nero got up and walked over to the bar where a young lady sat taking shots. She was a dirty blonde with braids and tan skin. She wore a silver turtleneck, trench coat, and knee-high boots. He took the seat next to her. "Hello there." She took one last shot and turned to face him.  
  
"Does he have to talk to every girl in this bar I mean he is the one taking us out to dinner." Paige leaned back in her chair. "But I have to admit this is a pretty nice club."  
  
"Yeah, and I like the music too." John took another sip out of his drink. Across the bar a short man got up on the stage.  
  
"May I have your attention?" Everyone looked at him. "Get your hands up for the beautiful and talented Miss Korie Landers." The crowd cheered. A slender lady in a white dress that stopped short at mid-thigh came onto stage. She walked up to the mike and with her left hand she moved her ruby hair out of her face behind her ear.  
  
"Pretty." Was all John could say. He just continued to stare into her chocolate eyes.  
  
"Oh please," Paige smacked him in the head while everyone was listening to her sing.  
  
New Edwards Imperial Base -  
  
At the briefing room two soldiers entered the room. The first was a man a average height and the second was a woman with a black bandanna. A general was waiting for them.  
  
"Lt. Nicholas Hatsuharu and Private Rei Neko reporting."  
  
"Ah you're here. Let's begin the debriefing."  
  
The dark haired man handed him the report. "Attack was successful, with the assistance of the mercenary Jarred A.K.A. 'The Black Dragon', all republican forces were eliminated with in the time table allowed for the assault." The general opened the folder to examine the report while hearing the Lieutenant.  
  
"Good what about the zoid that got away?"  
  
"I sent three of my men to track it down. They haven't returned yet and after this briefing I wish to take my unit and go search for them."  
  
"Permission denied, its too big a security risk they are more likely dead by now."  
  
"But sir, our sources report that the Republic still has no idea who attacked them I can only assume that my men took down the zoid but are now stranded."  
  
"Fine you may go but only take one other subordinate. I do not want an entire unit out there right now wondering the land. Now moving on, what is the status of the objective."  
  
"We didn't find it sir. When we entered the base we found nothing."  
  
"What do you mean nothing?"  
  
"Its all in my report."  
  
"Very well. Dismissed." The general leaned back into his seat while the two officers left.  
  
Outside the office in the launch bay Nicholas and Rei looked at each other.  
  
"Something doesn't add up Rei why would the General order us to attack a base just to steal one zoid."  
  
"I don't know and I don't care. It was our mission and we did." Two Redlers came down and onto the platform.  
  
"Your right lets just find them and worry about it later."  
  
Back in the office the general continued going through the report. Flipping through the pages thoroughly going through each statement. A woman in black leather boots and a black hooded cloak came out of the shadows behind him.  
  
"What do you think?" The general put the report down but kept his back to the Lady.  
  
She put her hand on the back of his chair. "I don't know, this was an unexpected turn of events. But nevertheless the objective remains the same." And with that the lady left the room.  
  
-Back at the bar-  
  
"So Miss what are you doing in a place like this?" Nero inquired at the blonde sitting next to him.  
  
"I don't have to put up with this. A good friend of mine just died so if you don't want to die I suggest you leave." She gave him a glare that could level mountains. Nero took the hint and returned to the table. When he sat down Paige just smirked.  
  
"What happened, lady not like your style?"  
  
"Funny haha." At that moment the song ended and everybody clapped. The red head took a bow and went back stage. When she got to her dressing room she slumped into her chair. She was exhausted, singing was her passion but it was also drained her after every performance. The short man knocked on the door and stuck his head in.  
  
"Great job they loved you. Your on again in 10 minutes so take a brake." And he left. She reached over and grabbed her water bottle. After chugging it she dropped it on the table.  
  
"Now, now a pretty lady like you shouldn't drink like that you know." A fairly tall girl with long dark brown hair and dark blue eyes came out of the dressing rooms closet.  
  
"Mya! Oh my god what are you doing here." The red head jumped up and hugged the brown haired girl. Mya returned the hug and then let go. They looked at each other, still in each other's arms. Then they hugged again. "I can't believe you're here." She smiled. They finally let go and Mya took the couch.  
  
"Its good to see you too Korie." She took a look around the room and smiled. "I'm glad you're still singing."  
  
"How can I not?" She sat back down in her chair. "Hey I'm only performing until 9:30 wanna do something afterwards."  
  
Mya's eyes lit up. "I thought you'd never ask. I spotted this club across town when I got here that I've been dying to go to."  
  
Korie just laughed. "Remember the last time we went to a bar together." Mya looked up at the ceiling trying to recall it then let out a huge grin. "Yeah exactly. How about we go back to my place and just catch up instead. I haven't seen you for like two years. I wanna know everything."  
  
"Oh come on, we weren't that drunk." Mya sat up on the couch. "And you didn't exactly hated that fellow what was his name."  
  
"George and that's not the point." The girls just stared at each other for a minute before bursting in laughter. "Fine one drink that's all."  
  
"Excellent." The short man returned.  
  
"2 minutes."  
  
"I got to go just wait for me here ok." Korie got up and proceeded back to the stage.  
  
"Hey she's back." The dark haired boy put his drink down. Paige just looked over to the stage behind her. "What's the matter with you, Blue?" That instant Paige shot a glare at him. John backed off immediately.  
  
As the night went on both Nero and Paige got drunk. Paige wasn't that bad but Nero had pasted out. John who was voted two to one was elected the designated driver of the even was really annoyed and thought it best that they go home. Besides the miss Landers had left the stage hours ago. He more or less carried Nero to the car on his shoulders staggering.  
  
'Dude, loss some weight.' "In you go." He laid him in the back of the Jeep and turned around and headed back into the club, a few seconds later he exited with Paige, one arm slung around his neck. He put her in the front seat. They drove a about a good twenty minutes before they got to Nero's house. John found it odd that the streets were quite deserted except for two girls that he past by. They were singing and yelling obliviously drunk. (A/n: three guesses on whom they were and the first two don't count).  
  
John laid Nero on the couch and threw what seemed to be a blanket on him. Before he returned to the car. He found Paige there sitting and giggling a little.  
  
"What's so funny Blue?" He asked while starting the car. She just pointed to the ball she had in her hand.  
  
"Its round." She whispered. John only nodded as they headed home. "You know wha'? If I look at you this way." She turned her head sideways. "You're pretty cute." She slung her arm on his shoulders. He moved it.  
  
"You're drunk."  
  
"No I'm not. I am not." She leaned over to his side of the car. He could smell the alcohol. "Ok maybe a little." She moved her hand across his cheek, down his chin and neck.  
  
"Would you quit it, I'm trying to drive."  
  
"Fine." She threw her hands in the air and huddled up against the other door and fell asleep. A few minutes later they got home. John had to carrier her to the door. Mr. Adare was still awake reading so he opened the door for them to enter. He looked at the sight and let out a small laugh. John was in the doorway with Paige in his arms.  
  
"You guys looked like your married."  
  
"Oh yeah. Now if you'll excuse me I got to get the bride to her room." John walked past Mr. Adare without so much a word.  
  
"Kids."  
  
The following day Paige, Jayde and John were out in the desert. John was in the Black Liger and Jayde was in her Zaber Fang. Paige had nothing better to due and when she heard Jayde was going to battle John she opted to tag along and watch.  
  
Ready  
  
Ready as I'll ever be  
  
Now remember even though we're only using paint try and avoid them as best you can  
  
Gotcha  
  
The black liger took off to the right with the zaber right behind him. John was doing his best to dodge the bullets but kept getting hit. The liger now multiple colors circled around and returned fire. Only three out of the 8 shots came remotely close.  
  
Come on John, I know you can do better Jayde jumped up and dove at him. The liger barely moved back in time. 'He's getting better; I wasn't expecting him to dodge that.'  
  
The battle carried on. Jayde would dodge an attack and hit him with a paint bullet. After an hour John managed to hit her 4 times. Paige was amused and laughing at the battle. Then she heard something in the distance. Thinking it was bandits she quickly grabbed the radio.  
  
Hey check your scanners I think we got company Jayde did so.  
  
Your right we got two bogies. Lets get out of here. John, swing by and pick her up  
  
Right The liger turned around and headed over to where Paige was. Jayde then pressed I few switches that switched the ammo to real ammo.  
  
"Move I'm piloting." Paige pushed John to the back. They were ready to get out of there when they saw a liger jump out of the pushes and heading toward them. It had considerable damage around its legs and it seemed to have only a headpiece for its armor. The zoid was completely bare. The zoid traveled a few feet before taking a nosedive into the sand. Both zoids then rushed to it. The cockpit opened and a man fell out covered in blood. Jayde got there first.  
  
"JACK!" She did a complete stop and jumped out of her zoid. She ran to the body and check for a pulse. "Thank god." Paige got there recognizing the body opened her cockpit and was about to join her. "No Paige stay there. John get down here now." He did.  
  
'So this is Jack.'  
  
"Help me get him up there." They both got him to the back seat behind Paige. "Paige get him to a hospital now."  
  
"Right." She closed the cockpit and made a running dash back to the city. Just them a Rev Raptor appeared. It let out a scream. Jayde eyed it with an intense glare. "John take this thing and get back to the shop. I'll handle this pile of dren." John hoped into the damaged bare liger while Jayde got back into her zaber. The bare liger managed to get back up. Electricity was running back and fourth along its body and legs.  
  
"Come on you frelling thing. Move." He got the liger to go a little faster than a walk. On the other side of the desert, Jayde tore the raptor into pieces and didn't stop even after the pilot cleared.  
  
By nightfall they all sat around the waiting room in the hospital. Everyone sat in silence waiting for the doctor. Mr. Adare though was leaning against the wall wondering about what happened as he fingered the disk they found inside the liger. After hours of waiting the doctor came in. Everybody looked at him and he shook his head.  
  
"I'm sorry, he didn't make it."  
  
A/n:  
  
And so ends act 1, there will be a fifteen-minute intermission. The next chap is an interlude. I always wanted to write one of those. 


	7. Interlude

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
Two weeks have passed since that night in the hospital. Mr. Adare walked into the house in a black suit. He loosened his tie as he sat down in his brown chair in the living room. A little while later John entered the house in similar attire. He sat down on the couch beside Mr. Adare's chair. They sat in silence for a minute or so.  
  
"Jayde's still at the graveyard. I don't know how long she'll be there but Paige said she look after her."  
  
"That's good. She's taking this the hardest out of everyone." Mr. Adare closed his eyes.  
  
"She loved him didn't he?" John looked at the older man.  
  
"Yes." They both took another moment in silence. "Jack was a good man. He was strong and he never gave up on her even when I did." He opened his eyes.  
  
"How are the repairs coming along on that liger?"  
  
"It's fully repaired and I just equipped orange armor on it."  
  
"Orange?"  
  
"Yeah only parts I had laying around. Besides this way whoever was chasing Jack." He took a deep breath. "Won't be able to recognize it. The only thing left now is what to do with this disk." He took the disk from his pocket.  
  
"Did you finally decrypt it?"  
  
"Yes, it contained schismatic of the liger. That was how I was able to repair it so fast." He lifted the disk up above his head to the sunlight shinning through the window. "But that only created more questions."  
  
John lifted his head up to look at Mr. Adare. "What do you mean?"  
  
"There is a hole, a black hole deep inside the liger."  
  
"Show me."  
  
At a café near the cemetery -  
  
A dark skinned girl sat at a table drinking tea. She wore a black strap dress that matched her hair. A light skinned girl came out of the café with a cup in hand. She was dressed very similar.  
  
"I miss him."  
  
"I know. It's going to be okay." Paige put her cup on the table as she sat down to join her friend.  
  
"No its not. When Sam died I thought I couldn't go on but then I met Jack. With his help I got my life back and now he's gone. Why do I have to consistently get left behind?" She broke into tears. Paige moved her chair closer and just hugged her for the rest of the morning.  
  
Back at the shop -  
  
Mr. Adare and John sat at his console in the back hanger where they kept the newly acquired liger. Mr. A inserted the disk and brought the files up on the monitor.  
  
"Okay here's the schismatic of the liger. This is no ordinary liger; this disk also contains the results of all tests conducted on it. According to the data, its faster, stronger and more agile than even the blade liger." He opened up another file. "I finished the zoid exactly to the letter but why would they build such a powerful zoid and put no additional weapons on it?"  
  
John who was staring at the zoid turned around. "What? What do you mean 'additional' weapons on it?"  
  
Mr. A brought up another file. "Something called a 'Strike Laser Claw'. I don't know what that is."  
  
"Wait what about that?" John pointed to the screen. "Oh that's the other weapon but its more of an attachment. I'm constructing it now since I finished the repairs."  
  
"So after a month and a half, Jack comes back dead with a powerful zoid being chased by a unmarked military zoid. I know I'm still new to all this but something about all this seems really frelled." He looked back at the zoid. "So you'd name the zoid yet?"  
  
"Yes I have. Based on everything I've learned about it I've decided to name it the Liger Zero."  
  
A/n: Now the fun really begins. The first 6 chapters were really just to get a feel of the landscape and characters. I haven't introduced all the characters yet, most but not all. So far John has taken a back seat to the main story well that's about to change. The second act is about to begin. Things are going to change. 


	8. Grief and goodbyes

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
Paige was walking down the hall of the house. She stopped at Jayde's door and knock on it, hoping for a replay but getting none.  
  
"Come on you have to come out." She leaned up against the door. "I made you favorite, waffles just the way you like them." Still no replay from the door.  
  
After a few minutes Paige gave up and decided to try again later. So she headed toward the shop to see what Mr. Adare and John were up to. She found Mr. Adare at a consul talking to John over a headset.  
  
"Ok now ease back a little on the throttle and then punch it."  
  
Gotcha, commencing tests now  
  
The Liger Zero took off running and just as it reached maximum speed John activated the thrusters easily doubling the speed the Liger was at. He then started his maneuvers, turning and jumping. Mr. Adare could only watch in amazement.  
  
"I can't believe how good he's become with in the amount of time he's been at this." Just then Paige walked in.  
  
"What do you expect, he's been practicing almost non-stop ever since the he got here." She leaned in a little bit to take a closer look at the monitor. "I have to admit though that is one impressive zoid."  
  
"You have no idea." Mr. Adare smiled.  
  
This is John, test completed. Beginning weapons test now. You ready  
  
"Yeah hold on a minute." Mr. Adare switched a few switches. "Ok start."  
  
On top of the zoid was a newly attached gun barrel that was about half the length of the liger's body. John took aim at the targets laid out on the desert and fired. He hit 3 out of 5 targets. Then a heavily armored black and a dummy zoid showed up in front of him.  
  
Primary firing mechanism works switching to secondary  
  
The barrel realigned itself to face the front and the rotational gears locked and the liger fired. The bullet hit the target piercing the 4 layers of armor and exiting the other side.  
  
"Cool. Hey Mr. A can I get on of those." She smirked.  
  
Conventional weapon test completed and now conducting the other one  
  
Paige smiled. "The other one? Who the frell say 'now conducting the other one'."  
  
"Ok lets try it."  
  
The liger took off running again. John was kind of nervous no knowing what to expect. "Well here's go nothing." He took a breath. "Strike Laser Claw!" The front vents opened up on the liger and started to collect energy and the front claws started to glow. The liger jumped and sliced the dummy zoid ripping it up into pieces. The liger slowed down and turned around to see the result. "O my. Did you see that?!"  
  
Yeah we did. That's all the data I need. Come on back and we'll have lunch  
  
"Alright." The orange liger turned 90 degrees and headed back to the shop.  
  
Meanwhile at the shop, Paige had her jaw drop. "OK that was new."  
  
Mr. Adare shifted in his chair a little bit. "So. How's Jayde?"  
  
Paige's mood went from high to low when she heard those words. "Still the same." They both were now silent.  
  
Afterward Mr. Adare set the computer to analyze all the data from the tests. It would take 4 hours to finish. Once he set the Computer on auto he went home to stay with Jayde. Paige and John went into town to get some lunch. They went to their usual place, a small deli in the center of town. They both took an outside table and sat down.  
  
"Dude that Liger is amazing." John took a bite out of his sandwich and took a gulp out of his drink. Paige did the same. The weather was chilly that day and windy.  
  
"You're right." She put her drink down. John looked at her strangely.  
  
"What did you say? Did you actually agree with me?" Paige paused and thought about what she said.  
  
"Hmm.. Your right." She resumed eating without another word. Just then four soldiers approached the two. The first one had short black hair with red and yellow streaks with a short ponytail reaching just under his shoulders. He stood at 6'1'' and had light green eyes.  
  
"Excuse me but have you seen an odd looking liger around these parts." He looked Paige in the eyes and handed her a picture of the incomplete liger zero that Jack had brought them.  
  
"That depends on who you are?" She took another bite out her sandwich.  
  
"I am Lt. Zack Cooper of the republican army." He and the rest of his men saluted. "I will ask again. Have you seen this zoid?"  
  
Paige just returned to her meal. "Nope haven't seen it."  
  
"What about you?" He turned to John.  
  
"Sorry. Are you sure its in the area?" He looked at the lieutenant and then took another gulp out of his glass.  
  
"That's too bad. Sorry to trouble you." The soldiers continued on their way. John and Paige looked at each other, through money at the table and dashed home.  
  
Outside of town a small republican camp lay -  
  
Lt. Zack Cooper entered the main tent. When he entered he saluted the man across from him. He was fairly big man with dark hair and eyes. The man looked up from his report. "Do you have anything for me lieutenant?"  
  
"Yes I have. I believe I found the ones who took our Liger, Captain." The Captain walked around the table.  
  
"Do you have any to back this up?"  
  
"I believe so. I local merc said he saw the zoid with this person." He showed him a picture of John. "They own the mechanic shop on the outskirts of the city.  
  
"Mobilize the unit now." The Captain and the rest of his men left the tent in a hurry.  
  
Back at the house -  
  
"Are you sure they were looking for the Liger?" Mr. Adare sternly looked at both John and Paige.  
  
"We're sure. He had the photo and I think he suspected that we have it." John looked at both Paige and Mr. Adare. "What do we do now?"  
  
"We have to leave." Came a voice from behind them. Everyone in the room turned to see Jayde standing in the doorway.  
  
"What are you say Jayde? This is your home, we can't just leave." Paige raised both her arms.  
  
"No she's right. It isn't safe here. John, Paige I want you two to load all the zoids up in Penny." They were about to object then he stopped them. "Listen we don't have time to argue. Go and do it now." He looked over at Jayde. She was different now. It was subtle but he could tell. As soon as John and Paige left the house, Mr. Adare hugged her daughter. "I want you to go with them." She released him and just looked at him.  
  
"What are saying? You're not coming. But why?" She was confused. He put two of his fingers on her lips to silence her.  
  
"Shhh.lets not ruin the moment."  
  
Back at the shop -  
  
Paige and John were moving creates into Penny. "That's the last create." John set it down inside the modified Gustav. He looked at Paige. "Are the zoids secured?"  
  
"Yeah now all we have to is wait for the Mr. A and Jayde." Paige walked across the three flatbeds that the zoids are resting on and jumped down to join John. Suddenly a loud explosion shook the building. "What the frell was that!" Paige ran to the entrance of the main hanger. "Dren! We got company!" Paige ran back inside and detached the cables on her shield liger. Outside 9 hite command wolves, 1 konig wolf and 3 gordos stood.  
  
This the republican army. You have within your possession a republican zoid. Surrender it and you will not be harmed  
  
"Oh ok like I'm going to believe that bucket of dren." Paige got into her shield liger and started it up.  
  
Attention idiots I'm not stupid  
  
The black liger came out of the hanger and engaged the unit.  
  
"Wait you'll need help!" John got into the Liger Zero. Just then Jayde showed up in the Jeep. "Jayde! Where's your dad?" John looked around.  
  
"He's not coming." John looked just as confused as Jayde was when her father told her the news.  
  
"But why?" Just then the building shook. "Ah we don't have time for this. Take Penny and head for the mountain trail we'll clear a path and catch up with you there at Blue Ridge."  
  
"Right." Jayde got into the Gustav while John took off to support Paige. The black liger fired on the command wolves hitting nothing but dirt. She had managed to take down one but the others weren't as easy. She then took another barrage from the gordos.  
  
"Dam it." The Black liger was shifting its wait trying to get away from the shelling. The gordos had finally acquired target lock on the Paige and were about to fired before taking a direct hit from the barrel of the Liger Zero. All three fell to the ground. The konig wolf turned and saw what the liger did, "What in the hell?" In that moment Paige charged the wolf with her shield disabling it.  
  
Hey Blue you ok  
  
The liger zero on hinged its cannon and rotated it ninety degrees and fired keeping four wolves back.  
  
Don't call me Blue  
  
The black Liger then released a barrage of missiles that flew into the air and came back down spiraling, hitting the ground causing the dirt to raise and temporally blind the republic forces. By the time the command wolves regained visibility both John and Paige were gone.  
  
The damaged konig wolf managed to get back up. A normal command wolf an up next to it.  
  
Lt. Cooper, are you all right  
  
Yeah what about the enemies  
  
They got away with that last attack  
  
The following morning all three of them met up again in the mountains. Jayde was sitting on the cliff side looking down on the city that was her home. John sat down next to her. He look around, dozens of blue daisy like flowers covered the cliff side and below you could see the entire desert, river and Forwin city in the distance.  
  
"We'll be back, don't worry." He put his hand on her shoulder. "I promise you we will."  
  
"Hey you two we got to move. We have a frelling unit on our tails." Paige yelled from the Gustav.  
  
"Come on let's get a move on." John stood up and walked back to the zoids. Jayde followed him.  
  
A/n  
  
I decuded to revise the ending of the chapter I didn't like how I did the battle. Sorry that took so long. I got HW to do. Well here's the real beginning to the story and I'm still accepting characters. Tell me what you think. 


	9. Part one Pressure

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
Paige was walking back to the camp carrying some wood. It had been a week since they left and things hadn't changed much. Jayde seemed to be recovering but still went off on her own for hours on end. Paige figured she just needed to do this her own way. She got back to camp and found Jayde stretching in her sleeping bag.  
  
"Rise and shine sleepy head. How would you like your breakfast?" Paige put the wood down and started to make a fire. Yawning, Jayde look around.  
  
"Hey where's John?" Paige turned her head while walking over to get a pan and some eggs.  
  
"We're about a day away from Lopen City, so he decided to go into town to get some supplies."  
  
"But the liger still here?" She looked toward Penny and saw the orange liger parked on the first trailer with a sheet covering it.  
  
"Yeah, about that. Since the republican army seems to be after that we decided best to use it as little as possible. I thought it best that John take Stormy instead" She walked back to the fire placing the pan with three eggs in it.  
  
"And what if we run into trouble? What will I fight in you know that zoid doesn't let anyone but John control it." She looked back at the liger. "For an advanced zoid it sure is picky."  
  
"You got that right. Oh well what are you going to do." She moved the pan back and fourth to make sure she wouldn't burn the eggs. "Last night me and John were talking. We think the best move is to get out of the region and head deeper inland."  
  
Jayde stared at Paige. "Are you out of you mind?!"  
  
"Look it's the best option we have. This puts us outside of Republican controlled areas and we have a better chance of staying hidden until we can figure out what the frell is going on." She took the pan off the fire and moved the eggs over to the plates.  
  
"Exactly, out there, there is no authority. Each city is independent, well most." Paige handed her a plate of eggs and a fork. "We might as well head into Imperial sectors."  
  
"Oh don't be like that. You know that's our only option." They both sat by the fire finishing their breakfast. Suddenly they both heard shots fired in the distance. Paige and Jayde looked at each other. "I'll check it out you stay here." Paige got up and reached for the rifle that they brought. Jayde snatched it just before she reached it.  
  
"No, you wait here. I'll check it out. You and John have done everything including babysitting me, its time I carry my weight around here." She looked at Paige sternly until Paige threw her hands in the air and gave up.  
  
Jayde made her way through the forest following the gunfire. She hid behind a small mound and a fallen trunk. Clutching the rifle to her chest, she peaked over the mound. A woman in a trench coat jumped behind a log and opened fired on four imperial soldiers taking cover behind the trees. She hit one in the arm and the other in the chest killing him.  
  
Down by the trees, Jayde noticed the man on the far right talking on a radio. Then out of the trees came a rev raptor. Jayde just froze. The woman on the other hand took out three grenades and threw them toward the raptor, exploding and blinding everyone including the rev raptor. The woman took the advantage and started running. The pilot in the rev raptor got his vision back first and opened fire on the woman. He hit her in the arm and she took a dive. Upon seeing this, Jayde shook her fear off and aimed for the neck of the Raptor. She fired precision shots hitting between the armor plating and temporally short-circuiting the controls in the cockpit. The soldiers immediately took cover after the gunshots and Jayde ran by grabbing the injured woman. The woman looked up at Jayde realizing that she was trying to help her, decided to ask questions later. They put about a mile and half distance between the confused soldiers and themselves before ducking inside a cave.  
  
Jadye rested herself against the wall of the cave and looked at the other woman. She was about the same age as herelf. She had dirty blonde hair shoulder length in a braid, tan skin, 5'6, 110 pounds, brown eyes. She wore a silver turtleneck underneath and tan pants her trench coat, and knee-high boots.  
  
"I'm Jayde what's your name?" The woman took off her trench coat and tried to pull her turtleneck over her head. "Wait let me get that." Jadye stood up and got behind her and helped her with the sweater. Underneath she had a black tank top on.  
  
"Thanks. The names Savanna, Savanna Walker." Jadye tore a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around her wound.  
  
"So why are they after you?" Savanna stayed silent. "Fine well I have proper bandages back at the camp." She put her turtleneck into her pack and put on her trench coat. "I guess that's a yes. They carefully left the cave but not five feet from it they were spotted by the rev raptor and the soldiers.  
  
"Dren." Savanna and Jayde made a sprint toward the direction of the camp only to be cut off by the raptor. It had jumped and landed in front of them.  
  
Put down your weapons and surrender now  
  
The two girls reluctantly threw down their weapons. Suddenly the rev raptor was hit and disabled by a laser and a black liger showed up. The other soldiers soon retreated leaving behind the wrecked raptor.  
  
When they got back camp, Jadye treated Savanna's wounds thoroughly.  
  
"So Savanna is it?" Paige leaned against their Gustav. "Where you from?" Savanna looked up. Then a beep came from inside the gustav. Paige got to the controls and opened up a comlink and John's face appeared. "Hey." She smiled.  
  
Hey. No time for chitchat. Get everything loaded and head out as soon as I'm on Penny John looked panicked.  
  
"John what's wrong did those republican unit find you." Paige yelled. Savanna flinched at those words.  
  
Yes and no Stormy increased its speed. The situation is bigger than we thought  
  
"How many are chasing you?" Jadye and Savanna were in the cockpit now.  
  
Just one. One zoid  
  
"Why are you so worked up over one zoid? You aren't that bad of a pilot?" Paige looked worried.  
  
Ok let's see you try and take on an Ultra Saurus  
  
"A What?"  
A/n: Sorry it took so long next part's coming up soon ok. 


	10. Part two Trouble

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
The sun was high over Lopen's market square. John put his cap on and picked up the last of the supplies he needed to buy. 'Hmmm.I wonder what the girls are up to?' He thought walking down the streets back to the Zaber Fang. John and Paige had decided it was best not to use the ligers since the republic now had them ID and scanned into their data base by now. He was admiring the scenery. This place was still relatively new to him still. The customs, the people and zoids still startled and surprised him. He still hadn't completely gotten used to the landscape yet. Back on earth wild life was virtually unheard of and the only frontier was space and space travel took forever. (A/n: Hmmm..that gives me an idea anyways.) Lost in his thoughts he never saw the man in front of him as he walked into him. John a bit startled was quick to apologize to the violet-eyed man.  
  
"I'm sorry, pardon me." John then made his way past him.  
  
"John? Is that you?" John turned around and looked closer at the man. "It is you!" The man ran up to him.  
  
"Nero. Haven't talked to you in a while." The two just looked at each other.  
  
"No kidding where have you been. I go by the shop and I find the place is messed up and crawling with Republic soldiers."  
  
"Really? What about Mr. A?" John look worried. 'We should have went back for him.'  
  
"He's fine. He claimed no knowledge of the zoids that were in his shop, saying they must have used it during the night."  
  
"Did they believe it?" John looked nervous shifting the bags he was carrying.  
  
"Yes." Nero took notice of John's posture. "What's going on? There's something you're not telling me. And where's Paige and Jayde? Are they with you?"  
  
"I'll explain." John looked around. "But not here. Let me take this stuff back to Stormy. I'll meet you at your whale king in an hour ok?"  
  
"Ok" And with that they parted ways. John got back to Stormy and loaded the supplies into a compartment and then headed for the Whale King. When he got inside the whale king he found Nero at the bridge checking systems.  
  
"Nero what are you doing?" He approached him, and then suddenly the engines started. "Nero?!"  
  
"Let's just say I think it would be safer if we were off the ground when we have our chat." Nero pointed to something off in the distance. John followed his hand and saw a giant zoid that he had never seen. It dwarfed the others and had four large cannons, two on each side, on it.  
  
"What is that?" Nero never took his eyes off the controls and lifted the transport off the ground.  
  
"That is an Ultra Saurus. The symbol and heart of the republic armada." John could only stare at the enormous size and power of the zoid. "In addition to its awesome power it carries up to a hundred zoids within it. Basically it's a mobile fortress." The whale king now positioned itself two miles above and north of the city. "Ok now tell me what the frell is going on." A couple of hours passed by and John explained everything and their initial plan.  
  
"That's not a good idea John. Heading inland that is but you're right it is your only option."  
  
"So can you help us?" John hopping the answer would be yes. The whale king is faster than the Gustav and easier to evade their chasers.  
  
"No." Nero got up from his chair and inputted commands to set the whale king back down in the airport. "I'm sorry but the risk out weighs my involvement. I'll take you as far as the Ro's Valley, that's the best I can offer."  
  
John nodded and smiled at his last words. Nero was always the type to help out a friend but he wasn't about to risk his own neck for some mysterious zoid. "Thank you."  
  
Nero docked down and the two walked out and onto the landing pad. John was making his way back to stormy when ten soldiers came out of nowhere and surrounded him. The soldier in front of him approached. Just down the street Nero watched the scene and took out his phone.  
  
"Come with us please." The next thing John knows he is in a holding cell inside the Ultra Saurus. The two sat in silence trying to come up with a plan. Soon a few soldiers came and took John to an interrogation room where a large man waited.  
  
"Where is it? Mr. Auden isn't it. We know you and your friends have our zoid." The Man calmly said.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about but it must be some zoid for all this to be used to locate it."  
  
"You miss understand me. You are dead." He got up from his chair. "But your friends are a different matter if you get what I'm trying to tell you." He signaled to the soldier behind John. "I'll let you think about that for a while. Lt. Cooper escort him back to the brig."  
  
For the next hour John lay there on the bed trying to figure what to do next. The Captain made it pretty clear what he was going to do if he didn't cooperate with him. A soldier walked up to his cell.  
  
"Hey John." John looked up seeing Nero in a republican uniform.  
  
"Nero." John started to get up.  
  
"Stay there the cameras are watching us, luckily they can't hear us." He looked down at his watch. "And 3.2.." The cameras turned off and the door unlocked. "Come on."  
  
They both took off down the hall and hid in a storage room. "How did you get in here?" John looked at his friend. Nero looked down the hall and saw no one.  
  
"With great difficulty." They both took off down the hall to the hanger. "Let's just say I called in an old favor." His belt started to talk.  
  
Hey Nero I bought us about an hour head start I catch you later  
  
Nero picked up the radio. "Thanks Mya. I'll see you when I see you." They two jumped down a shaft and out the side of the fortress. They managed to get into town when they suddenly heard the scream of the Ultra Saurus and a Pteres overhead circling. "John the Ultra Saurus is as slow as hell I think you'll be able to outrun the thing in Jayde's Zaber fang. Get to a place called Ganford I'll be waiting for you there." With that they parted ways.  
  
John was going maximum speed and finally got within radio range of the campsite. After a couple of beeps he saw Paige's face.  
  
"Hey. No time for chitchat. Get everything loaded and head out as soon as I'm on Penny" Paige looked worried.  
  
John what's wrong did those republican unit find you  
  
"Yes and no." He punched the throttle and stormy increased its speed. "The situation is bigger than we thought."  
  
How many are chasing you By now Jadye and another girl were in the cockpit now. John was about to ask who that was but then heard the scream again.  
  
"Just one. One zoid."  
  
Why are you so worked up over one zoid? You aren't that bad of a pilot? Paige looked worried.  
  
"Ok let's see you try and take on an Ultra Saurus"  
  
A What?   
  
A/n: Told you it be up soon anyway part three is coming. 


	11. Part three Run just run

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
The Zaber Fang ran through the heavy forest and jumped into the air. It leaped over two fallen logs and onto the middle platform of the trailer. As soon as it landed on the Gustav started up and made a run for it. John opened up a comlink to the Penny. A picture of John appeared in the upper right hand corner of the cockpit.  
  
Hey it's a little bumpy back here  
  
Paige just looked at the screen. "Shut the Frell up. You said it yourself we got an Ultra Saurus behind us."  
  
We're at least 8 hours ahead of it. The thing is a slower than hell  
  
"Yeah but that's not what we're worried about. Look up."  
  
John looked up into the sky and saw a dinosaur type zoid fly past them at a tremendous speed. Jayde and Paige saw the samething.  
  
"Dam, they using the Raynos to scout the area, Pteras won't be far behind." Paige said lost in thought.  
  
Listen guys I met Nero in the city and he's agreed to help us  
  
Jayde looked over to John on the screen. "Nero, what was he." John interrupted her.  
  
Ask me later. He said to meet us at a place called Ganford. Do you know where that is?   
  
"Yeah its about 5 hours north from here." Jayde suddenly made a ninety- degree turn and headed for the valley. You could here the gears grind as she made the turn.  
  
Good because is got an idea  
  
The screen turned off. Paige tried to open up the comlink again. "John what are you planning to do? John!" All the time Savanna was in the backseat thinking about something else. John opened the cockpit to stormy and carefully made his way down the platform. Almost slipping off the platform he made it to the third one, the one containing the Liger Zero. He got in and activated it.  
  
"Time to wake up buddy." The Liger let out a roar. Paige and Jayde heard this and opened up communication to the Zero.  
  
John what the frell do you think your doing both girls yelled at once.  
  
"I'll provide distraction. Once they see me they'll change and pursue me and at the same time it lightens Penny's load and makes her faster."  
  
I'm going with you Paige unbuckled her seatbelt.  
  
"No, the only way you could get back here is for Penny to stop." John smirked. "What? Are you worried about me Blue?" Paige was about to yell but John closed the link and jumped off the platform. The Gustav immediately speed up. The girls could only watch as John took off to the right.  
  
The Liger came to halt, locked its cannon and aimed for one of the raynos circling. John looked through the targeting scope and fired. He missed but got the attention of the raynos. "Let's move Liger." The liger started running putting some distance between the girls and him. Suddenly the area in front of him exploded. "What the." Three Pterases showed up releasing another barrage of missles. "Dren." John tried his best to avoid them but ended up pinned to the ground. The Pterases circled about for another run. John took advantage of the pause and headed for Gandford. "Good I put about 10Km between us." He punched it and went to maximum speed. The Pterases caught up and easily overtook the Liger.  
  
- Meanwhile at the bridge of the Ultra Saurus-  
  
A soldier at the consol turned to face the captain. "Sir our pilots confirm a orange liger and attempting to disable it now."  
  
The Captain looked at the 3D image of the Liger and Pteras fighting. He pressed a button on the main consol in the middle of the bridge. "Attention Pilots this is Capt. Nidden. I want the zoid intact. Stall it long enough for our land troops to get there and apprehend it. I repeat I want it in one piece." He released the button. "Lieutenant recall the Raynos their job is done."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
-Inside the Gustav-  
  
"We should go back." Paige protested. "John's insane I should have never let that idiot go." She looked behind her and at Savanna. "What do you think?"  
  
Savanna just shook her head. "I don't know. This John seems to be able to take care of himself but your right we should go back."  
  
Paige turned to Jayde. "See even the new girl agrees with me."  
  
"Look Paige it's too late now." She looked ahead. "We're already here." Up ahead a Green Whale King lay rested on the ground with its mouth opened. Jayde took them in. Inside Nero was standing in the docking bay.  
  
"Welcome to my transport." He noticed stormy on broad the trailer. "Where's John? And the liger for that matter?"  
  
Jayde remained silent. "John took off in the Liger to distract our pursuers."  
  
Nero turned around and head for the bridge. "We'll that explains my radar."  
  
Jayde looked up and both her and Paige said "What?!" at the same time.  
  
-Just outside Ganford-  
  
"Come on buddy just a little bit further." The Liger slowly made its way into the valley at barely walking speed. The Pteras was about to circle around and made another pass when an energy blast disrupted their flight paths. John looked ahead of him and saw the whale king. Suddenly Nero's face appeared in front of him.  
  
John get on broad now. I'll take care of them  
  
Multiple beam cannons came out of the Whale King and opened fired. Within minutes the Pteras were all shot down. The Liger slowly made its way to the Whale King. Nero and the girls relaxed a bit. Suddenly an alarm came on inside the bridge.  
  
"What is that?" Savanna looked around. Nero went back to his consol and brought up a series of images.  
  
"That is proximity alarm." He then brought up an image of the Ultra Saurus at the edge of the valley. "Dren." The cannons were aligning. "Hey John hurry up!"  
  
I'm going as fast as I can  
  
"What's the matter?" Paige approached Nero. "That thing is like 2 Kilometers away."  
  
"But we're about 2 minutes away from target lock." Just then John finally got into the whale king.  
  
I'm in  
  
"Good, you better hang onto something." The thrusters fired at maximum power and the whale king took off just as the Ultra Saurus fired hitting the ground it was resting on. "That was too close." He turned around and only saw Savanna standing there. "So what's your story?" They began to talk. Meanwhile Jayde and Paige ran down to the loading bay. John slowly got out of the liger zero. Jayde immediately hugged him as hard as she could.  
  
"I'm so sorry. I should have never let you go." She finally let go. "You okay?"  
  
"I'm in one piece. I think." John almost fell but caught himself "It wasn't your decision." John then looked over at Paige. "Well you have anything to say."  
  
Paige just stood there. "Nope I'm just glad your ok. But if you ever pull another stunt like this I'll kill you. Now head on other the med room and well patch you up." The three then walked off the docking bay.  
  
A/n: Done and done, now moving on to the next episode. 


	12. Chicken

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this own FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
A couple of days later the whale king set down in mountains near New Cal. Nero had gone into town in his command wolf on what he called a 'feeling', leaving Jayde in charge.  
  
-Down the hall in the Med-room-  
  
"Hold still well you?" Paige was struggling to get the last bandage around John's left arm. "Stop it!" She smacked him in the back of the head. John almost let out a scream while Paige finished up. "There much better, if you need anything Jayde and I well be fixing up the Liger."  
  
"I still don't get why I have to stay bed. At least untie me." John pulled on the lock on his ankle. "I promise I'll stay this time." Paige smirked and left.  
  
"I think that's a no." John turned his head to the left to see Savanna sitting in the bed next to him.  
  
"You got that right. Jayde told me what happened to you guys. So why were they chasing you?" Savanna looked John in the eye.  
  
"I should ask the same thing of you. Its not everyday you have a full Ultra Saurus after you."  
  
Both Savanna and John smiled. "Nicely put. So besides pissing off the Empire, you have a day job?"  
  
Savanna half-smiled. "I'm a spy for the Republic." They stared at each other for a few minutes in dead silence. Savanna started to chuckle and soon John joined her. "I'm a pilot. I fly cargo for or did for the Empire. Let's just say curiosity got the better of me one day."  
  
John was moving around by then. "You know what I'm tired of staying in this bed wanna go grab something to eat in the Kitchen? I heard Nero saying he's got a bird in the fridge."  
  
"Sure my arm is feeling better but what about that?" She pointed to the plastic rope wrapped around John's ankle complete with a lock.  
  
"Oh." John had forgotten about it. He let out a grin. "Wanna see a cool trick?"  
  
-The Hanger-  
  
"Pass me the wrench." Jayde got out from underneath the Liger pointing to the wrench. Paige handed it to her. Jayde got back underneath and continued her work. "So how's the couple down the hall?"  
  
"There doin' fine. Savanna's wound should heal up in a couple of days and John if he stays in bed maybe a week." Paige leaned against the back leg of the liger. "So what are we going to do about Savanna?"  
  
"Done and done." Jayde came out and dusted herself off. "Whew that was a good 6 hours." She looked over to Paige. "What do mean?"  
  
"She can't stay with us and you know that." Paige gave her a big 'duh' expression. "And besides I thought you promised your dad you'd stop taking in people." At the mention of her father Jayde became quiet. Paige mentally kicked herself. "Listen I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't. You're absolutely right. She can't stay with us. We'll find a way to take her home or something." She put her hand on her stomach. "I guess I'm a little hungry wanna grab something to eat?" Paige's eyes lit up.  
  
"You bet. Nero told me he's got some chicken in the fridge and seeing how Johns tied up at the moment I don't have to share." They proceeded up the stairs and down the hall toward the kitchen. Jayde opened to the door to see Savanna at the table eating a sandwich and John closing the fridge door holding two sodas with a chicken leg in his mouth. The four of them just stared at each other in silence for moment. Paige just glared and closed the door behind her.  
  
-In the city-  
  
Nero walked down the street until he got to a bar called 'Jumpers'. The Room was filled with people talking and shouting. He walked past all the smoke and people and went to the back. In the back there was a single table and two chairs. Nero took the one facing the door and sat. A few minutes later a short man walked in and joined him.  
  
"So what brings you back? And don't tell me it's my cookin'." The man smiled. Nero rubbed his scar a few time before answering.  
  
"What do you know of Republic black projects, weapons, zoids?" Nero glided his hand across the table.  
  
"Business then huh? Personally no nothing that would be significant. Why?" He looked at his friend suspiciously. "What have you gotten yourself into?"  
  
"That's what I'm trying to find out."  
  
The other man leaned back into his chair. "There is a man who could help you that much I know. His name is Owen Demitos, he used to be a republican soldier. Now he's a hermit out here."  
  
"Where can I find him?"  
  
"I don't know he's a wonderer. Last I heard he was in the Fark Desert."  
  
"Thanks. Now that that's out of the way how are you?"  
  
"Good you want something to eat?"  
  
"Nah I had a big breakfast, besides I got chicken back on my whale." The two reminisced for the rest of the afternoon. After a few drink Nero left the bar and headed back to the others. As he was walking past another bar he noticed the T.V.  
  
And on another topic today have you seen this man A picture of John appeared on the T.V. 'Dren.' Or any of these zoids Both Ligers, Stormy and the Nero's whale king came on next. A large reward is offered to anyone who captures John Auden  
  
Nero continued on his way. "This just gets better and better." He got into his wolf and headed back. When Nero returned Jayde greeted him. "I found someone who I think can help us but hes going to be a little.Hey where is everyone?"  
  
"Savanna is taking a nap, Paige is cooking and John is strapped to his bed." Nero looked utterly confused. "Don't ask. Anyways where out of chicken."  
A/n: Kind of a short chapter sorry for the long wait I just got simcity 4 dam maxis games there like a wonderful frustrating drug. There just so addicting. 


	13. plans and more plans

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this on FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
The sky was deep red as the sun started to set. The whale king was in mid- flight with Nero at the helm. A tanned skinned woman walked up behind him looking out at the scenery.  
  
"Beautiful, isn't it?" The woman looked at Nero then outside again. "It almost makes me forget what's happened the last month."  
  
"I know what you mean Jayde. I know what you mean." Suddenly a large explosion happened beneath them. "Hmmm. I wonder what's going on down there."  
  
"How about we don't and get out of here." Paige said walking into the room. Both Nero and Jayde agreed and Nero increased speed.  
  
~ Meanwhile below them ~  
  
The republic outpost lay in ruins after the sneak attack. A pierce sniper and a lightning siaxs walked out of the smoke followed by 5 rev raptors. Lt. Nicholas Hatsuharu opened the cockpit of his pierce sniper and opened up coms.  
  
"Good job men. Mission accomplished with no casualties." He saluted his unit.  
  
I wouldn't be so sure about that Nico was startled by the transmission. Next to him the lightning siaxs turned around prepared for an attack.  
  
"Who is this? I demand to know." Nico closed his cockpit and got strapped him. Then a picture of a man in an imperial uniform appeared. "General? I don't understand?"  
  
Exactly. You see how should I put this. You and your men are doing an excellent job. In fact too good of a job A Geno Saurer came out of the sand. Nico went to full alert. You see these missions I've had you do never happened. Don't take it personally its strictly business  
  
The lightning siaxs took off toward the geno sauer along with the rest of the unit. Nico was too busy dealing with his men then feeling betrayed by his own government. "Rei holdfast! We can't beat that thing with what we have. We have to retreat!" The lightning saixs continued to charge. A screen popped up in front of Nico of a girl with black hair and blue eyes that were burning.  
  
And where would we go! The battle raged on. The geno sauer easily took out all the Raptors. It sung its head and rammed into the chest piece of the pierce sniper sending it to the ground. The lightning saixs jumped and managed a few shots hitting its legs and damaging the foot lock. Meanwhile the battle was being monitored by satellite far away. Seeing the unit being disposed of pleased the General. He hated leaving loose ends.  
  
"That boy better not ruin the geno sauer I lent him." Behind him the lady in the trench coat smiled. All was going according to plan. (A/n: Though I forgot about them didn't you)  
  
~ On broad the ultra saurus ~  
  
A tall man with light green eyes and short black hair with red and yellow streaks walked down the hall. He was late for a meeting. When he finally walked into the room he was met by the captain, his second and four other officers that he considered friends all lined up. The captain nodded and the man lined up with the others.  
  
"Thank you for finally joining us Lieutenant Cooper." The captain walked back and fourth parallel with the other soldiers. Cooper gulped. "Now that everyone is here, Commander if you do the honors." He looked over to his left where a woman stood. She took out a list and began reading.  
  
"Through your courage and leadership ability you have all shown on the battlefield the captain and myself have decided to promote the following officers." She began reading the names of everyone in the room and their new titles. "And the last is Lt. Commander Zack Cooper. You are dismissed." Everyone saluted and left the room but Cooper, the Captain asked him to stay behind.  
  
"At ease Lt. Commander." He smiled. "Feels good doesn't it Cooper?" He walked back to his desk and grabbed to folders. Cooper relaxed a bit.  
  
"Captain what did you want to discuss about?" He then was handed the two folders.  
  
"First things first. The top folder contains the profile of three soldiers I'm putting under you. Don't get too excited but I felt it was time you received your first command. The second is on a mission I'm assigning to you." Cooper opened that folder and began looking over it and listening at the same time. "Recently our research facilities and outposts on the frontier have been fallen to attack by an unknown enemy."  
  
"Could it be the empire?" Cooper continued to flip through the photos in the folder.  
  
"We don't know. My opinion is that it probably is but they can't be stupid enough to do it. They know if they ever committed these kind of attacks the only result would be war." He looked into Cooper's eyes. "I want you to investigate these attacks while we pursue the liger."  
  
"May I ask what is so important about that liger that a Captain of the fleet has been assigned to retrieve the thing? Why not send a retrieval squad?"  
  
"No you may not. Now get ready you leave at the next port we stop at. And that's tomorrow."  
  
~ Nero's what king high in the sky ~  
  
"How long till we get to Fiona's oasis?" John asked. He walked across the bridge. "Are you sure this is the best idea. You know separating."  
  
"Its our only idea unless you can come up with a better one." Jayde looked at him.  
  
"Are we sure this Owen Demitos can help us and if he can do you think he will help us?"  
  
"Nope. But we have to try, for Jack's sake." Paige crossed her arms and Jayde closed her eyes her a brief second but then nodded.  
  
"Yeah for Jack's sake." Jayde looked over at Savanna. "When we get to the port I'm sure you can find a transport back to wherever."  
  
Who said I'm going." The dirty blonde stared into her eyes. "You saved my life the least I can do is help you guys with this mystery."  
  
A/n: sorry for the long delay, finally got over the block. Oh and for those wondering everyone's characters are coming into the story. Its hard I have like twenty I have to fit so be patient okay. 


	14. Seperation Part 1

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this on FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
The liger zero was running as fast as it could down the floor of the valley, explosions left and right. I missile came out from the clouds and nailed the liger on its left side. The orange zoid took a dive causing all the dust to rise up around it.  
  
"Frell!" John hit the controls. He managed to get the liger back up on its feet. He aimed the back gun toward the sky and fired. "It's a good plan they said. What could go wrong they said." He swung the liger around and kept close the forest. He kept one eye on the trees and on eye up in the sky. "Paige!!!" A dozen bombs landed all around him.  
  
~Earlier~  
  
The whale king slowly settled down on the landing pad. It had taken them three days to get to Fiona's oasis. As soon as it settled John went into the hanger with his bag. He opened the back of Penny and threw his stuff in. Paige came up behind him and hit him in the arm.  
  
"Hey when your finished with whatever your doing meet us by the mouth we have some supplies we need to get." With that she left. John just shook his head. After he finished loading Penny and getting the zoids on the trailer he met Paige and Savanna and headed into town.  
  
"I thought we just got supplies though." John inquired. Neither girl responded to his question. "Well have we decided who's coming with me on Penny yet?" They all walked into a parts store.  
  
"Hello, do you have anything on this list." Paige handed a piece of paper to an old man. He took the list and lifted up his glasses to read it.  
  
"Well?" John looked at them waiting for a response.  
  
"Yes I have all the parts you need." He took the list and went to the counter and ringed up a bill. "Where do you want it delivered?" Paige took the bill and took out the money Nero gave her.  
  
"I'm going with you." Savanna turned around. "You sound like a very interesting person to travel with." She said very firmly.  
  
"I want it delivered to bay 12." She handed him the money.  
  
"Thanks, I think." John shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window. 'Why did I have to come I'm the one posted all over the place.'  
  
"You're welcome," The old man took the money. "Your order will be delivered in an hour." The three waved good-bye. The walked through the streets buying gear, John had both hands full and so did Paige.  
  
The three stopped by restaurant because Savanna had to use the bathroom. While they were waiting John just looked at Paige.  
  
"What is it why are you looking at me like that?" She glared at him.  
  
"I'm still waiting for your answer." He leaned against the streetlight. She looked away. "Well?"  
  
"Well," She didn't turn around to look at him. "I haven't decided." She tightened her grip on the bags. John was about to say something when Savanna came back. She looked at them strangely but shrugged it off.  
  
"Come on we're going to be late, Nero and Jayde are expecting us." She headed back to the landing bays with John and Paige following behind.  
  
When they got back they noticed the truck from the shop had already arrived and were loading all the equipment they ordered. Nero was directing them.  
  
"Jaydes inside." He motioned the three inside. "No I want that over there." He yelled to one of the workers. Inside the command deck Jayde was waiting for them.  
  
"So is everything set?" Jayde asked. She walked over to the window to get a better view of the city.  
  
"Almost Nero's helping with the last of the stuff." John pointed down in the direction of the mouth. "So that's it we split up in the morning and meet up once we find the guy." He looked over at Savanna. "I guess it's just you and me huh?"  
  
"And me." John and Paige looked over at Jayde. "Someone has to watch you, unless you want to go Paige? We can't leave Nero all alone." Jayde inquired. John waited for her answer.  
  
"No you can go besides sleeping in a room beats camping any day." Suddenly the Radar went off. "What is that?" Paige ran over to the screen.  
  
That was the alarm. I'm on my way Nero told the trucks to clear out and headed up to join the others.  
  
Jayde brought up the screen and a gigantic Ultra Saurus appeared on the screen. Nero entered the room and wore a shocked face.  
  
"How the hell did that thing find us?" He ran over to where Jayde was and started the lift off sequence. "We got to get out of here now." Paige put her hands on the controls and blocked him. "What are you doing?"  
  
"I got a plan." She turned to John and Savanna and smirked.  
  
~ The Ultra Saurus~  
  
The Captain entered the bridge. "What is it commander?" He looked to his right at the woman standing there.  
  
"We detected this as soon as we entered the port. She motioned an officer to bring up an image on the screen. The picture was of Nero's Whale King. "We believe it is the same one that helped Auden escape at Ganford."  
  
"Dispatch Red and Grey squads now." He said firmly.  
  
"Yes sir." She pressed the comlink. "Red and Grey squads scramble this is not a drill. I repeat all squads scramble." About a dozen Pteres and command wolves came out and headed toward the Whale King.  
  
Suddenly the Whale King takes off and starts climbing in altitude. "They are trying to evade our cannons. Tell Red group to pursue and disable. I don't want that liger damaged. The Pteres launch five missiles at the whale king. In return the Whale king fires interceptors blowing the missiles out of the sky and returning fire.  
  
~ The docking bay~  
  
"I hope they can keep this up." John gets into the Liger Zero and looks at Jayde and Savanna. "Remember the north passage." Both girls nodded. Savanna got into Penny and Jayde jumped into Stormy. The three went in opposite directions.  
  
John got to the edge of the city and looked at the battle in the sky. "Paige I hope you know what your doing." The Liger dashed off toward a valley just west of the port. When he got there he opened the cockpit and planted a bomb a few meters away from Zero. When he got back in he pressed the button and the bomb exploded into a huge flare. 'I also hope you ok.'  
  
A/n: My writer's block is slowly chipping away finally. Another chapter in the bag, the plot thickens, the characters start to change. Tell me what you think its been a long time since I touched the story I want to make sure I kept everything intact. 


	15. We're so screwed Part 2

Disclaimer: no I don't own zoids you figure I don't have to write this since I'm posting this on FANFICTION.NET I don't know anyways. .  
  
The Whale King was barely holding its own against the mighty symbol of the republic. The Green aircraft took another direct hit; Nero lost his balance and hit the floor however Paige grabbed the consul and kept from falling.  
  
"Nero! Our forward batteries are gone and so are 50% of our interceptors." She wiped the sweat from her brow. Another explosion rocked the ship. "We can't keep this up!"  
  
Nero got back up. "This was your plan remember." He pressed a series of controls and the bay doors opened releasing 6 missiles. The Ultra Saurus raised its back cannons and destroyed the missiles before contact. Suddenly in the midst of the fighting a bright flare went up a few kilometers away.  
  
Paige looked up in that direction and sighed. "Auden."  
  
~ The Ultra Saurus~  
  
The Captain looked over to his Lieutenant. "Report. I want to know what that was. Meanwhile maintain firing, I want that ship out of my sky." He sat back down in his command chair. After a brief analysis the Lieutenant turned to face him.  
  
"Sir it's the liger. The pilot apparently sent up a flare." He brought the Orange Liger up on the screen. It stood proud and let out a roar. The Captain got up and stared at the screen. "Sir should we disengage and pursuer?"  
  
"No that just what they want us to do." He looked over to the side monitor displaying the battle with the Whale King. "Commander have the gunners target the liger with the main batteries, meanwhile continue assault on the whale."  
  
"Yes sir, But aren't our orders to capture the liger not destroy it sir."  
  
The Captain smiled. "Do not fret Commander from this range at best we'll disable it, most likely we'll only scare the pilot in doing something stupid." At his order the Ultra Saurus's main cannons turned and aimed directly on the liger.  
  
~ The Whale King~  
  
"Frell, What the hell is it doing!" Paige could only watch as the cannons opened fired at the liger. "John." She whispered.  
  
"Paige, Auden's not the only one we should be worried about. Hang on!" Just then the Whale King got hit two more times. Nero barely hanged on to his seat, while Paige was distracted and got thrown to the other side of the deck. "Paige!" Nero fought his instincts to go help her and focused his attention on the enemy and a plan of escape seeing how their original plan failed. "Dam it! Half of the systems are shot, the other half are gone. I hope the others are having better luck than us." He decided to try and maneuver and put them between John and the Ultra Saurus. He could here the engines grind and piped busting. "Oh shit." The Ultra Saurus turned and had most of its arsenal aimed at the them.  
  
~ The North Passage~  
  
Jayde and Savanna stood by Penny waiting for John. They were too far way to see the battle but they could hear it. Jayde turned to Savanna. "I hope there okay, I think this is one of the craziest things Paige has ever thought. I can't believe I went along with it."  
  
Savanna put her hand on Jayde's shoulder. "Don't worry I know I only met you guys but they seem pretty capable if everything goes according to plan they should all be okay."  
  
"But if everything is okay why isn't John here yet." She stared off toward the battle-taking place in the distance. Suddenly they heard a rustle behind them. They both turned around. "Who's there?" Savanna pulled out her gun. Jayde glanced over the bushed when suddenly a man and a woman fell. They both looked pretty beat up. The man had on what looked like a uniform of some kind but was so tattered and torn it was beyond recognition. He hand tanned skin and dark hair. The woman wore what the same thing auburn hair and an X shaped scar through one of her eyes. Both appeared in pretty bad shape and were bleeding. Savanna just there with her gun ready while Jayde rushed to their aid. "Come on we have to get them on the back of penny and dress these wounds." Savanna reluctantly put down her gun and helped her get the two onto a platform.  
  
~ Valley Floor~  
  
The liger zero was running as fast as it could down the floor of the valley, explosions left and right. I missile came out from the clouds and nailed the liger on its left side. The orange zoid took a dive causing all the dust to rise up around it.  
  
"Frell!" John hit the controls. He managed to get the liger back up on its feet. He aimed the back gun toward the sky and fired. "It's a good plan they said. What could go wrong they said." He swung the liger around and kept close to the forest. He kept one eye on the trees and on eye up in the sky. "Paige!!!" A dozen bombs landed all around him.  
  
John was knocked out for a few minutes. He slowly came too and reached for the controls. The liger barely moved. "Come on, we need to get up." The liger slowly got up and was barely able to stand. He took one step and the liger came crashing back down. John hit the consul and opened the cockpit. When he got out to look at the damage he saw that the back stabilizers were shot and a piece of the front right leg was missing. "FRELL!" He let out the loudest scream he could. He climbed on top of the liger to see if Nero and Paige got away. As he looked up and got a view of the battle he was just in time to see the Whale King take a nosedive toward the ground in flames. "Nero! Paige!"  
  
~ The Ultra Saurus~  
  
"Sir, the Whale King is down and we have confirmation that the liger has stopped its movement."  
  
The Captain sat back in his chair. "Damage repport."  
  
"Yes sir. We have minor damage on the outer hall and one of the power cells was destroyed in the initial attack sir. ETA about 15 hours for repairs"  
  
"Good. Dispatch two squads I want any survivor from that whale king and if possible Mr. Auden alive."  
  
A few hours later the squads reported back to the Ultra Saurus. The Commander walked down the hall confidently and into the Captain's office. "Sir, all troops have returned safely. We apprehended two people from the wreckage of the whale kina and Sergeant Kim has just brought the liger into docking bay 3." The Captain just sat in his chair thinking about what she just said.  
  
"What about Auden?" He scratched the bottom of his chin.  
  
"Kim searched the entire area, his men didn't find any trace of the pilot. My guess is he's long gone by now." The Captain smiled at her words.  
  
"Maybe, well its been a long day get some rest tell the others they deserves it. Tomorrow we start the interrogations."  
  
"Yes Sir." With that the commander left the office.  
  
A/n: How was that. I originally planned to have Nero come up with a plan B and everyone would get away and I can move one to the next part I got planed but I thought this might be more fun. Oh sorry about the wait, I had finals and then summer kicked in. 


	16. the great escape Part 3

Disclaimer: I don't own zoids  
  
The room was dark and dry. There were no windows only bars that replaced the east wall. Inside sat a man. His back leaned up against the far wall so he could see down the hall. It was a narrow hall with one steel door. The Door opened and three figures came in. Two of them were in Military uniforms that belonged to the Republic. They were escorting a young woman. The one on the right unlocked the cell door and the one on the left pushed her in. After that the two soldiers locked up and left. The man looked up and into her crystal blue eyes.  
  
"Paige." He paused and looked down the hall at the big metal gray door. Never taking his eyes off the door. "Think they got away?"  
  
She smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. "I hope so Nero, I sincerely hope so." She sat down on cold metal floor of the cell.  
  
Outside on the observation deck the Captain was monitoring them through the surveillance camera. His second came up behind him. "Report. Did you get anything out of them?" He turned to his Second. She handed him his daily status report.  
  
"No sir, neither of them said anything." Her eyes also wondered to the monitors. "Also we've completed the repairs on the Zero just as you ordered. The damage wasn't too major, none of the vital systems were damaged."  
  
"Good." He flipped through the report. "What of the location of Mr. Auden? He couldn't have gotten for on foot"  
  
"We haven't found yet sir. We have three squads deployed within a 2 kilometer radius its only a matter of time before we get him sir." The Captain turned around to face her.  
  
"I want you to head the search yourself." He smirked. "Besides you've been drooling over new boosters we got for the Storm Sworders. Here's your chance to try them out." The lieutenant smiled and left the observation deck. The Captain turned to the Sergeant at his post. "Give them an hour before you escort them back to the interrogation room."  
  
"Yes sir." The Captain patted him on the shoulder left the deck.  
  
~ Outside the Ultra Saurus~  
  
John was lying down in the tall grass as he watched the zoids and trucks go by. He had to find a way to get in the mobile fortress and get Nero and Paige to safety. As he looked on he noticed the supply trucks coming from the port had been stopped by soldiers. The last truck was about 40 meters from his position.  
  
"Dam my luck," He quickly got to his feet and jumped into the back of the truck. He used all his will power to not scream as he landed on what looked liked spare parts for their zoids. He held his right shoulder as tight as he could, hoping the pain would subside soon. "Dam my luck."  
  
Up ahead the soldiers started waving the trucks to board the gigantic zoid. He kept his head down as they entered the main hanger. At the first opportunity he jumped out and hid behind a Command Wolf. He saw a door not too far away from him so he carefully made his way over. Most of the crew was too busy with repairs and supplies to notice him. He quickly closed the door behind him and found himself in a locker room. He just shrugged and grabbed a uniform. "How did Nero pull this off the first time?" John wondered.  
  
~ The North Passage, 5 kilometers away~  
  
Jayde finished wrapping a bandage around the woman's leg. She was still unconscious as the same with her companion but that didn't stop Jayde not matter how much Savanna protested. Gun still in hand she grabbed a radio from inside Penny.  
  
"Where you going?" Jayde eyed her friend. "I need your help here, especially when they wake up." She put the roll of bandages back into the med-kit.  
  
"Relax I'll be back I'm just going to have a look around and maybe spot John." She waved without turning around and left the temporary campsite. At that moment the guy started to shift and come around. Jayde stood up, grabbed a water bottle and walked over to him. She placed her hand on his forehead and wiped the sweat and dirt away. He slowly opened his turquoise eyes.  
  
"Here drink this." Jayde brought the bottle to his lips. He readily accepted the drink. After a few gulps she took the bottle away from.  
  
"Thank you," He said in a scratchy voice. He slowly sat up. "Who are you?" He spoke slowly; his vision was still adjusting to the light. He had been out for almost half a day.  
  
"I was about to ask you the same thing, but since you asked first. My name is Jayde and my paranoid friend is Savanna." She looked in the direction that Savanna took off. "So who are you and your friend over there." He looked over his shoulder and saw his unconscious comrade laying a few meters away from him. He slowly turned back to face his savior.  
  
"I'm." He paused briefly. "Nicholas Hatsuharu and my young friend over there is Rei Neko." Jayde handed him the bottle again. He gladly accepted.  
  
"Can you tell me what happened Nicholas Hatsuharu." She looked at him and Rei with concern. He took a few sips before trying to speak again.  
  
"First call me Nico and I'm sorry my memories pretty vague right now. Ask me again sometime." He smiled as he closed his eyes. The smile quickly vanished as he remembered how they got where they are.  
  
~ Interrogation room~  
  
The Captain slammed his hand on the table and said in a very stern voice. "I'll ask again. How did you get into your possession this zoid?" He showed Nero a picture of the Zero. Nero took one look at the picture.  
  
"Told you already, it was a trade." Nero smirked as he pulled on his restraints. His arms and legs were strapped to the chair as a security precaution.  
  
"That's bullshit and you no it." The Captain sat down. "Now I'm willing to make a deal with you. You tell me everything and I'll see that you and your friend are taken care of."  
  
Nero just laughed. "Now who's taking bullshit Captain Gilman?"  
  
~Two decks below~  
  
John entered another storage room and leaned against the wall. This was getting him nowhere. There was a one and a million chance of finding them by wondering the ship aimlessly. "There must be a way to speed this up." He kicked the vent. Suddenly he heard a voice.  
  
"John is that you?" He recognized it immediately and dashed to the vent.  
  
"Paige! Oh my god I can't believe I found you. I've been searching the ship for hours. Where's Nero?" By then he pulled the grate off.  
  
"He's being interrogated. Where are you?" Paige now was sitting with her back against the grate trying to hide her enthusiasm from the cameras.  
  
"I'm in what looks like a storage room. Dam this vent is too small to crawl through." He stuck his head in the vent. "Wait I got an idea." He took one of the boxes and opened it. Looking through it he took out a bolt of some kind. He went back over to the vent and threw it as hard as he could. He heard a noise coming from the other end of the ventilation shaft a few seconds later.  
  
"What the hell was that John?" She said angrily while gently rubbing her lower back.  
  
"You felt that?" He smiled. "Good that means these two rooms aren't that far apart." He sighed this was the first good news all day and in truth it wasn't very good news.  
  
"Oh for your sake they better not be." Paige was glaring at the opposite wall.  
  
"We don't have time for this Blue. Listen there's got to be something in these crates that can get you out of there. I'm going to check. Hit the grate or something when Nero comes back." He got to work.  
  
~ The North Passage~  
  
Savanna came back to the camp finding only Jayde sitting by the fire preparing dinner. She looked up at her hopping to see the Zero behind her. Savanna looked around wondering where their two mystery people went.  
  
"Rei, the girl started to shiver so I put her in Penny's cockpit and Nico, the guy is watching over her. Don't worry I locked the controls so they can't steal her." Jayde said without even flinching. Savanna nodded and sat down next to her.  
  
"There was no sign of John or the Liger. However there were about four Raynos and a couple of jeeps in the area so I'm guessing that they haven't found him." Jayde sighed with relief. "Now the bad news, Nero's Whale King is gone." Savanna avoided eye contact.  
  
"What do you mean gone." Jayde turned to face the back of Savanna's head. "You mean gone as in they escaped right? Right!" Savanna covered her mouth as she coughed.  
  
"I mean gone as in lying on the desert floor in little pieces." She said quietly. Jayde couldn't move, couldn't breath. Savanna put her arm around her not really knowing what to do. "Let it out Jayde, just let it out." Jayde rested her head on Savanna's shoulder with tears streaming down her face. For the rest of the night the only thing Savanna heard her say was two words. "Not again."  
  
~The Ultra Saurus~  
  
"There's got to be something here I can use." John muttered to himself as he searched through yet again another box. And then as if lightening struck he got an idea. He ran back to the vent. "Paige? Hey blue." He whispered.  
  
"Quiet, someone's coming." She whispered back and moved away from the vent to see who it was. It was two guards bring Nero back to the cell. After they threw him in they left. "Nero, look who I found." She smiled at him and tapped the vent while he just eyed her back.  
  
"Are they gone Blue?" Nero's eyes went wide. Paige shifted back over to the vent slowly.  
  
"Yeah, you got something? Nero careful about the eyes." She hinted toward the camera. Nero went back to his usual self.  
  
"Nero's there? Anyways I've got an idea but you're going to have to trust me."  
  
"I trust you, now what is it"  
  
"I want you to give them the code that unlocks the Zero, it's 'Once in a blue moon'."  
  
"You call that a plan? That's not a plan that's idiocy. Once they unlock the zoid they don't need us anymore."  
  
"Just do it, trust me I got it all worked out. Okay somewhat worked out. Listen we don't have much time, I need an hour to set things up. Trust me, what do we've got to lose." With that he took off carrying a wrench under his jacket.  
  
"Great think we should do it Nero." She blew a piece of her hair out of her face. He just let out a sigh.  
  
"What choice do we have, John's already gone. We have to follow his lead."  
  
Paige squinted her eyes. "If we get out of this remind me to kill him." Nero smiled at her comment and nodded. The two sat there in the cell, since neither of them had a watch Nero decided to count the seconds and Paige was trying to think of why he wanted her to give them the code. It was a very long hour.  
  
~The bridge or whatever its called~  
  
The Captain sat in his chair; the crew had just finished repairs and restocked their supplies. The door opened and a man approached him. "What is it Lt. Williams?"  
  
"The prisoners request to see you Sir. They say they want to make a deal." This caught his attention greatly.  
  
"Hmmm.bring them both to the interrogation room now. I'll be there shortly." Gilman sat back wondering what they had to offer but quickly got up; he was curious to see what they offered. When he entered the room he saw Nero staring at him but the girl, Paige was looking down at the floor. "So what do you want?"  
  
He looked over at Paige for a second and then back to him. "We want our freedom, and we're willing to make a trade."  
  
The Captain smiled. "Good, if you give me the location of Mr. Au.." Nero interrupted him.  
  
"No. We're not giving you John. The deal is the Liger Zero in exchange for our freedom." He never took his eyes off the Captain.  
  
"Interesting, but we already have the zoid"  
  
"You've been having trouble lately with it haven't you. The operating system perhaps?" The Captain sat down willing to listen. "We'll give you the code that unlocks the operating system in exchange for our freedom."  
  
"Deal. Williams escort them to the main hanger." He stood up. "But understand me I do not like games. If this is a trick, you two will never see the light of day." He knocked on the door and two guards came in. Together they proceeded to the main hanger. Paige and Nero looked in awe they still couldn't believe how immense this Zoid was. They were standing a narrow catwalk. Paige looked below and saw the Liger Zero being brought up on a platform. Both Nero and Paige were shocked at its appearance. The orange armour had been stripped and replaced with white with blue stripes. The cannon had also been replaced.  
  
"What did you do to Liger?" Paige demanded and glared at Gilman.  
  
"We finished it Mam." A tall man with a beard came up behind the Captain. He was wearing an engineer's uniform. "When we began repairs on the Liger we noticed that some of the parts and systems weren't in the original design plans. They were impressive but only allowed about 85% of the Ligers potential to be realized. We remedied that problem."  
  
"Excellent work Chief." Gilman turned his attention to Nero. "Now give us the code and well see about your freedom if this works."  
  
Paige continued to look at Zero. She looked up and saw an engineer on the other end of the Catwlk. She was startled; she swore that the man tips his hat to her. But before she could get a good look at the man he was gone. "The code is 'once in a blue moon'."  
  
"Good, radio that to your man inside." Gilman motioned the man next to him. He nodded and held up his radio.  
  
"Yo, Bill the codes 'once in a blue moon'. You copy. I repeat 'once in a blue moon'."  
  
The liger let out a roar and began to move. Gilman smiled upon seeing this and motioned the guards. The three soldiers held up there guns. "What's going on we had a deal."  
  
"Yes we did and I attend to keep my part of the bargain. We'll let out leave in the morning but for security reasons you'll have to spend the night in the cell again." Paige just glared at him. The Captain was about to comment on her when he heard shouting below them. The liger wouldn't stop it ran into the side crushing the platform mechanism. "What's going on down there?!" He turned to Chief.  
  
Below both workers and soldiers were running around frantically. "Sir the zoid is out of control and nothing seems to be working." The Zero suddenly opened its cockpit and threw out the engineer.  
  
"I want that thing under control now!" Gilman yelled and the Chief nodded and ran toward the elevator. About the same time the entire Zoid began to shake and the bay doors opened. The Captain turned to Nero and Paige. "You knew this was going to happen. Take them to there cell now!" Suddenly an engineer appeared out of nowhere and tackled the Lt. Williams and tossed a wrench to Nero. Nero grabbed it and nailed the other guard in the head and grabbed his gun. The last guard aimed his rifle at Nero warning him to part it down. The Captain wasn't about to just sit there and watch his prisoners escape. He tackled the engineer and his hat flew off. It was John. Just when the soldier was about to fire Paige shoved him over the rail and he fell hitting the ground hard. Gilman got the upper hand and punched John in the gut. John hit the floor of the catwalk pretty hard. The Captain stood up just in time to see the barrel of Nero's gun.  
  
"That's enough, we don't want any trouble." He motioned Gilman to turn around. The Captain reluctantly did so. "Sorry about this but I hope you understand." He hit him in the back of the neck with the butt of his pistol knocking him out for the next several hours. Paige grabbed the rifle from the ground as well. "Come on." John picked himself up and the three of them hurried down the ladder. In the mist of all the havoc John whistled and Zero calmed down and walked over to them.  
  
"How did you do that?" Paige looked not knowing what to say.  
  
"Lots up of programming and work. I'll explain later get on it'll be tight but it'll only be for a little while. I managed to secure both you're zoids from the wreckage." Paige's eyes lit up and she hugged him as the three got into the one seater and jumped down from the Ultra Saurus. The Liger took off in incredible speed. "Wow, what they do to you. You're faster than ever." John smiled. They got behind the Tail of the remains of the Whale King where Paige's shield liger and Nero's command wolf stood. Paige and Nero both got out and in their zoids.  
  
As Nero started up his wolf something hit him. He contacted John. "What are we going to do? We can't out run the range of those cannons."  
  
The three took off toward the north passage hoping Jayde and Savanna were still there.  
  
~The North Passage~  
  
Savanna just sat there holding Jayde. She didn't know why she was doing what she was doing considering the situation but she didn't want to let her go right at that moment. Jayde kept her eyes closed fearing that if she opened them she would start crying again. "John, Paige, Nero." She whispered to herself. Suddenly the ground started to rumble. Savanna raised her head and then looked at Jayde.  
  
"Jayde you have to get up. Can you do that for me? Please get up." She said in a soothing yet panicky voice. Jayde nodded and they both got up slowly. Savanna opened the cockpit and Nico looked at them for a second. Savanna put Jayde in the back with Rei who still hadn't woken up yet.  
  
Nico moved to the front passenger seat. "What's going on?"  
  
"Let's just say some unwelcome guest are coming and we need to be not here when they arrive." Savanna unlocked the controls and started Penny up. At that moment a white liger with blue stripes came into view. Savanna froze at it walked up to Penny. Nico unconsciously reached into his empty holster while Savanna slowly reached for her gun. The cockpit opened and John poked his head out.  
  
"Hey I hope I'm not too late. I had to get a paint job." Savanna felt a huge wave of relief rush right through her. "Oh and I brought some friends." A green Command Wolf and Black Shield Liger came into view as well. Jayde finally came back from her thoughts and as she looked up she saw the tree zoids. She jumped out of her seat.  
  
"You're all okay!" She yelled with tears of joy.  
  
"What'd you expect?" Paige yelled from her zoid. "Hey I would go down and catch up but we got to get out of here."  
  
"Paige is right. Come on follow us." Paige, Savanna and John closed their cockpits.  
  
Jayde leaned over and opened up the comlink. "Some day you three better tell me what happened!"  
  
A/n: whew! That was the longest chapter I've ever written. It just kept going and going anyways. I'll update soon this time. At least I'll try. 


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